Day 8 - We're In Salem

We both felt as we entered Oregon yesterday that we’d made the right decision. Everything is green….there are hills and mountains everywhere, and although you still see corporate stamps around, they’re not all you see. We’ve seen lots of mom & pop places…so and so’s diner, so and so’s inn, etc. That’s such a nice change from most of the landscape we’ve crossed this past week.

Derron got his first taste of not being able to pump his own gas. We stopped at a truck stop outside Roseburg. I jumped out to make sure he had the back end of the RV lined up right and was met with a guy in a reflective vest…oh yeah! Forgot about that. And what a chatty guy he was. Fortunately I had to run in the store to use the bathroom, so Derron got stuck talking to him. Not sure how long it will take for Derron to adjust…for some reason, men have a lot of trouble letting go of the pump.

As we headed toward Eugene, we saw the snow and lots of it. But I-5 was clear so we didn't have any trouble at all. 

We dropped the tow dolly off in Corvallis and then headed for an RV park in Salem. We decided we needed to be near dog daycare and there are none in Corvallis that offer the services we need. We checked into the Premier RV Resorts. Nice place. Covered in snow. We're next to a small fenced dog area and there's one further down the road too.

The dogs got their first exposure to snow and I didn't have a camera! They were sooooo cute. Nutella took to it like a snow rabbit, and Hazelnut followed suit. Nutella pulled me down a hill, on my ass, and on the way back, Hazelnut almost did the same.

With the car unhooked now, we have some much needed mobility. We went downtown to check out The Dog Bark, a day care/boarding facility. We think it will work out just fine. Now we have to get Nutella's vaccinations up to date (got the renewal notice the day before leaving LA and there was no time). Once that's done...we can drop them off to see how they do.

Already started the job search here in Salem. There are government jobs and several commercial and university options as well. I also plan on heading down to Corvallis and checking out opportunities at Oregon State University too. I've already applied for four positions there so I will stop in at Human Resources to check on status.

Ideally we'd like to settle between Corvallis and Salem. There are lots of wide open space between the two as well as many small towns. But there are some good options in Salem proper too.

We have to take Nutella to the vet in a couple minutes. Once that's done, we're probably going to take a ride downtown and see what's what...it's raining here now and the snow is melting, so may be easier to get around. It's not cold enough here for the snow/rain to freeze. Thank God.

Pictures tomorrow. I promise.