A Newmar Dutch Star

8/21/04 - The Big Order - A New Diesel Pusher
Today was a very exciting day. We drove down to the RV Corral in Coburg, OR (Map) and ordered our new Newmar Dutch Star diesel pusher. We spent a couple of hours with Jeff Lake who carefully wrote down all the special changes we wanted the factory to make to our new coach. Most of these changes had to do with the solid oak cabinets, making many of them larger or deeper for us. It was great to be able to write a $20,000 check for the down payment. The guys at the RV Corral were great to work with and gave us a very good price.

RV Corral in Coburg, OR

8/22/04 - What's In All Those Boxes Anyway
Today we spent most of the day sorting through the piles of boxes in our garage. We moved some of them into the house, but mostly we just identified what was in them and put like boxes together for future disbursement. It was good to get the big mess somewhat organized.

8/24/04 - Steve Saga Ends
This morning we had our oven repaired. We also called my mother to wish her a happy birthday.

It had been over a week since we saw Steve, so when he showed up just as we were about to leave to out to dinner, it was a surprise. He said he was going to finish installing the garage toilet and tie up some other loose ends. So we left him and went to dinner.

As we sat down to dinner, we got a call from Steve on my cell phone. He said that the toilet tank was cracked and there was nothing he could do about it. So after some discussion we decided to stop at Home Depot and buy a new toilet. We wound up buying a toilet to put in the house after deciding to move the one in the house to the garage.

When we got home Steve had already left. This turned out to be the last day we saw Steve. He did call the next day and indicated that he had to reorder our hot tub cover, but we never heard from him again or saw our hot tub cover.

8/26/04 - More Shopping
My wife decided she wanted to go back up to City Liquidators in Portland today in order to buy a filing cabinet for her studio. We also spent some time furniture shopping.

8/27/04 - New Furniture
We continued our shopping spree today and visited several furniture stores before purchasing a new custom built bedroom set, with a Sealy mattress and a solid oak dining room set. I had a big old table that my Grandparents had for many years and that I left with my sister in California. This bedroom and dining sets is the only new furniture that I have purchased with the exception of a pair of Lazy Boy chairs we bought for our house in Rhonert Park about 7 or 8 years ago.

8/28/04 - A Great Party
Today was a great day! I finished painting the deck in our backyard, despite having to avoid a few wasps were trying to defend a small nest that was under one of the railings. Then we cleaned up and went to a party at Tom's house. He and his wife Marsha had about twenty people come and share food and drinks. One of the highlights was some great barbecued oysters that Tom did.

The Boomer Band

The main event was live music provided by several of the musicians that comprise the Boomer Band which Tom is the bass player in. They had a few guests sitting in with them tonight, filling in for missing members. Despite the fact that they were jamming with some new people, the band sounded great and played many favorites from the 50's and 60's.