Back in Portland, Oregon

I'm back in Portland for a couple of days.

My van kitchen looks so nicely organized!

The Tillamook Meet Up was wonderful!

It was so nice to spend time with old friends and make new ones!

The weather was perfect.

However, I got sunburned to the point it was painful

That rarely happens to me

with my Portuguese ancestry.

However, I decided to leave early

since I had to stay sequestered in the shade to be comfortable

and that was no fun.

Also, I had to take my van BACK to Toyota.

After spending $1500 on a new computer

because the Traction System kept shutting down my van in the middle of the road,

I began getting a new code light telling me the traction system was OFF;

the opposite of the one that cost me $1500!!

After an hour and a half, the guy brought the test results.

Apparently there is a steering sensor out and that is tripping the code.

The bad news is that the part must be imported,

it costs almost $600,

there are only two in the country

and both are spoken for.

YIKES!

The good news is that it won't hurt anything to drive the car without replacing the part.

So I'm going to wait until I pad my car repair budget

before ordering the part and fixing it.

It is HOT HOT HOT in Portland, Oregon!

Crazy hot.

So I'm not stopping here for long.

It was good to empty the van (again) of unneeded items.

My, how they seem to manifest out of the air!

I have a meeting this morning,

and the big annual block party tomorrow.

Then I'm heading back to the Oregon coast where it's cool

until this heat spell breaks.

If anyone is over that way, give a holler.

I'd love to meet up with some friendly faces.

Love,

Annie

PS:  Thanks for the photos, Karylee Harrison!

Tillamook Meet Up - July 2018

I spent the last several days at the Tillamook Meet Up 

which was held at the Tillamook Airport RV Park.  

It felt like a big family reunion 

with so many wonderful friends to reconnect with!

I arrived on Sunday afternoon. 

Two rigs were already there. 

By the next day, people began arriving.

Gary and Izzy from Southern CA

Bob from New York

Jane and Marty were there

Satyavati

Merle from Beaverton, Oregon

Bob and Suanne were there

Mustang Sally from Florida 

Pat from Portland

Christy

Kenny, Pat, and Sally

Lora from Florida and Debbie 

Karylee was there, ready to party!

There were no workshops, no meetings. 

It was just a group of like minded folks 

reconnecting, relaxing and having fun!  

There were conversations about everything you can think of 

having to do with this lifestyle.

The RV park was right next to the Tillamook Airport 

and we were able to spread out nicely in the big grassy field.  

There was a toilet and garbage dumpster and water.

There were a variety of rigs there, 

from schoolies to Roadtreks to vans.

Jane and Marty brought a birthday cake and we celebrated Jerry's birthday.

Everyone was so excited to see Jerry and Nelda! 

Chocolate!  YUM!

 There were showers available at the local YMCA for $1!

 Jane and Marty bought an EZ Up at the local Goodwill and buddy I was happy!

I don't usually burn, but that sun was HOT!

 I ended up leaving a couple of days early because I was sunburned.
I couldn't stand another minute of crispiness!
People will stay "until" they're ready to leave. 

It was a lot of fun and I'm so happy I attended!
I'm looking forward to reconnecting with a lot of these folks
at the Women's RTR in Quartzite in January
and at the regular RTR.

I'd really like to find a group of folks
traveling around the Pacific Northwest this summer,
once I get my van sorted out.
After spending $1500 last week getting a new computer put in,
the damned TRAC lights are going on again,
this time telling me the Traction is OFF.
In addition, I woke up to no turn signals yesterday.
So I've got an appointment with the Toyota folks in Hillsboro
tomorrow morning.

Yesterday afternoon, I left the Tillamook Meet
and traveled up to Seaside.  

I stopped for some yummy fried oysters along the way!

I parked at The Cove for the night. 

There is a stretch of parking in front of some apartments,

so I took a chance.

I had a nice quiet night,

 and this morning I'm sitting in Starbucks, 

enjoying a cup of coffee 

and looking for a shower and campground for the night.

Life is good!

Hope to see you on the road!

Love, 

Annie

Rule #1 - Plan and Budget for Repairs

When I bought my 2002 Toyota Sienna, it was in great shape. It was a one-owner van with regular maintenance records. But because of the age, I knew it would be wise to budget for repairs. So I stuck $1500 of the cash I made on my group trip to the Camino Santiago in an account.

Before I left for Spain, I had been experiencing a weird thing where you'd be driving along and all of a sudden there would be a beep-beep-beep, the TRAC light would come on, and the brakes would put themselves on. Dangerous anywhere you were traveling more than 30 mph.

This was a frustrating problem because it might happen on one day and then not again for a week or two.

I took it to a Toyota Dealer in Fresno on my way home from the desert this Spring, and they couldn't find a thing wrong with it.

While I was in Spain, I let Joe borrow the van to take to the coast. By the time he got to Eugene, the light had gone off 3 times, so he turned around and came home.

When I got home, I did some research online and found many instances of this issue with this particular van. Most of the time, Toyota dealers SAID they had no idea what the issue was, since it was erratic and in general wouldn't occur when they drove the vehicle (convenient!)  And most of the time, it was solved by replacing the rack and pinion, a $1500 job.  (just what I'd saved!)

But in taking it to a local mechanic, he found nothing wrong with the rack and pinion and suggested I take it to ... a Toyota Dealer.

So I did.

I took it to a dealer out in Hillsboro.

As I was explaining the issue, I looked at the paperwork they'd given me in Fresno and it did not even mention the traction problem!

So when the guy at Toyota told me "We can't find anything wrong," I told him, I want you to state on the paperwork that I came to you complaining about the traction would turn itself on, and that you could not find anything wrong.  Because if I drive it away, and the traction comes on while I'm on the freeway and I get rear-ended, I'm going to sue Toyota!

He took the car BACK in and had one of this fellow workers go through every wire.  He said if they found nothing wrong, they could call in a specialist from Toyota.

That happened, and the specialist found it was a computer element that was bad.

The bad news:  The part alone was $1150 so with labor it will be about $1500.

The good news: That's the amount I had set aside for repairs.  This will clean me out, but starting next month, I can put $100 aside each month and begin building up my emergency fund again.

Some people might think that $1500 is too much to put into a used van. But I LOVE my van, and $1500 is cheaper than a couple of months of rent.  And... once this is fixed, the van should be fine for at least another few years.

So I'm happy.

And I'm anxious to get back into my little home. Living in my son's house for a few weeks has been nice, but I'm ready to get back into nature.

I guess the point of my post is this:  if you're going to seriously live out of your vehicle, take a bit of cash each month and stick it into an account for emergency repairs.