Saturday
We got out of the house early on Saturday and made good time south to Salem and then East on OR22 through the Cascade
Mountains and the town of Sisters to OR 97. My wife found a nice hotel with a spring break special in the Old Mill district. We hit the pool, and then we had a less-than-exemplary dinner at Anthony's. We arrived during happy hour and were repeatedly reminded that seating in the restaurant did not entitle us to happy hour pricing. Seeing how the discount was about a dollar on beverages, it wasn't that big of a deal, but it did set the mood off wrong. We ordered a round of drinks and food within 10 minutes of getting seated, but our drinks were long-empty before the food arrived. When it did, it was overcooked and wrong. Getting replacement dishes only prolonged the agony, making all of us surly. Our waitress was apologetic, and we didn't blame her for the expo-guy's complete incompetence. The manager tried to make up for it with a free desert, but even that wasn't good. Overall, I give the place a "D-" < style="font-weight: bold;"> Sunday Morning
We awoke early Sunday and hit the lobby for the included breakfast. Usually when hotels offer these kinds of breakfasts, it consists of bargain fruits and cereals in those tall plastic tube things. The dining experience usually happens in a glorified conference room complete with the cardboard-tasting coffee. That's not what we got, though. There was this whole buffet thing set out in the fireplace appointed lobby. The coffee was awful, but everything else
was great.We loaded the car with the snow-gear and hit the Old Mill for coffee and a grab-n-go lunch at Organic Coffee. The coffee folks were great - even remembered me from the night before when I stopped by for a late coffee to get the awful dinner out of my mouth. We got a few wraps for lunch, and a go-coffee and hit the road for Mt. Bachelor.
Snowblind
Mt. Bachelor is considered one of the top 5 ski destinations in the US. You understand why once you get there. The snow is a dry-powder like Eastern Colorado snow, and the venue seems under-populated even when the staffers call it "a busy day". Sunday was no exception as the Junior Olympic ski events were taking place on the main run in front of the main entrance. Even with that big even, the parking lot was only 1/3 full and the lines were virtually non-existent. We encountered flurries on the drive up to the lot, and it snowed most of the time we were on the mountain. The conditions were rated 'poor' by the price we paid, but by mid-afternoon the fresh snow had turned the compressed week-old snow into fresh powder a couple inches
deep. It made for some great riding, even for someone that's boarded only once - literally one time down hill.My 11 year old son spent the 4 hours we had lift tickets teaching me how to board. He showed considerable patience as I slipped and crashed my way down the beginner slope over and over again. By our last run, I was able to make it from top to bottom with only 3 crashes. Not bad. Meanwhile, my 8 year old was having ski lessons. Unfortunately, he was not taken up the lift during his lesson, and he really really wanted a go at it, so I took my sons up, and had a very challenging time getting everyone down unscathed. In the end, it was a great day on the mountain.
Bus
Well, it wouldn't be a complete post without at least mentioning the bus. I don't think I've done anything since the last post, unfortunately. I have the bracket, and I'll be mounting that next. Then, I have to finish out the rubber lines, and close off the bleeder in the lower radiator line. After those bits are done, I'll be switching over to the electrical stuff. Near the top of the electrical list is the accelerator pedal switch and the clutch/brake pedal switches. The current plan is to put all 3 of these under the floor pan. I will probably have to work this weekend, so my availability will be thin at best.
I'll post the rest of the trip next time. Hopefully, I'll have made some progress on the bus-front as well.
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