We spent last weekend in Springfield, OR, waiting for our June 21, 2010, 8:30 am., appointment at AM Solar. We arrived too late on Friday afternoon to pick up a key to dry-camp at AM Solar, so were happy to find “lodging” at the Springfield Elks for just $15 a night--for water/electric. The club is about 3 to 4 miles away from AM Solar.
Usually I am armed with AAA maps of the areas we plan to explore, but I fell short with Springfield and Eugene, OR. So, on Sunday we wandered around looking for little green-colored spaces on the GPS face—indicating a possible park. We found the Willamette River and noticed the drift boat fisherman working the river.
At the boat ramp, I took a photo of this happy fisherman—notice the look of pride on his face for catching this steelhead:
Next, a local fellow told me we HAD to visit the Dorris Ranch and directed us to it. It was a good thing, as I wouldn’t have found the ranch otherwise! Next time, I will visit AAA first!
Larry wasn’t in a walking mood, but I wanted to see the Hazelnut orchards, so I hiked a bit into the park.
According to the plaque above, the trees are about 100 years old! Without Larry for company on my hike, it was a bit creepy!
Early Monday morning, we presented ourselves and our camper to AM Solar to have the solar panels re-attached and rewired. Larry and Jack had originally installed the system about 12 years ago and it has worked great. Larry had created fiber-glassed blocks of wood with a screw standing up and fiber glassed the block to the roof of the camper to avoid making holes in the roof. Unfortunately, in the last year or so, the blocks started rotting.
I was thrilled when AM Solar joined the Escapees commercial membership program—at last, a place outside of Arizona for summer solar system work! I called before we left Livingston, TX, to verify AM Solar had a way to attach the panels without drilling holes and made the appointment planning to come up I-5 in June.
We are very pleased with the quality of their work and their family-style set-up in Springfield, OR. We should have plenty of solar power next January-February in Quartzsite, AZ. They installed a better controller and used our two panels, as well as up-grading the wiring.
It appears Greg and Deb are committed to helping make the would a better place to live. Their building is set up to minimize its impact on the environment. And, the tile driveway allows water to sink in to the soil instead of running off the the creek on the property. Here is a photo of Deb’s electric car. Isn’t it cute?
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While the camper was being fixed, I took our camper ladder across to Eugene, OR to Step-Up Products, who had built them about 11 years ago. The original ladder/steps for the Big Foot camper were flimsy and bouncy. Step-Up Products built us a much better and wider ladder and installed it in the same day. After all these years, we needed to have the bottom rung replaced—definitely our fault! Ted agreed to not only supply the replacement part, but re-attached the rung. I had a great visit, including letting him know of the many compliments we have received on the ladder over the years. I learned about some new innovative ladders he has designed recently for other campers. Soon, he had fixed ours. Thank you, Ted. We are back in business!
The Step-Up ladder is wider and double-jointed for a more stable ladder. Now, if he could just find a way to attach a hand-rail for Larry, we would be ordering a new set, smile!
We left Springfield and Eugene, OR, with smiles on our faces!
We accomplished two repairs, one major and one minor, and had outstanding service on both! That is a red-letter day!
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