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Our First Family RV Adventure
My wife and I registered our son for his first Tae Kwon Do Tournament in Oregon City, Oregon. We had only planned to drive from Seattle, enjoy the tourney and possibly stay overnight if the price was right. Well, time had slipped away on us and we hadn’t really planned the trip at all (But the distance wasn’t any great factor for us either). The day before our departure we were greatly blessed by a friend who asked if we wanted to borrow his Jayco Greyhawk motor-home for the trip. Again, we hadn’t really planned a trip especially one with a large motor-home, but given that it was my son’s first tournament and well… how often does someone invite you take their motor-home for the weekend? I thought it would be great to take my friend up on his offer.
This would definitely be a first for me to drive a large size motor-home out of state and a first for our family to vacation in one. After accepting his offer, I got a little nervous about my ability to drive this large beast in rush hour traffic from Seattle. So I probed my friend for pointers on how to drive it. He kinda chuckled at me and said “it’s a Jayco. Even though I had heard great things about Jayco motor-homes being the best driving RV on the road and all, I had yet to experience it. Whatever the case, we had a Jayco Greyhawk for the weekend!
I was so excited. I told my wife and son right away that we were going RVing over the weekend. This was a big deal! My son was jumping up and down and my wife was thanking God. We soon realized that we had this large motor-home all to ourselves (The three of us). Well, that was just not going to work. This rig sleeps roughly eight people. So we brainstormed to see if we could take more family to make this trip worth its venture. This weekend was going to be our nephew’s birthday and we knew we were going to miss it, but if we could bring him on the trip, it would prove good for everyone. He would be turning 9 years old. So we asked him if he wanted to come along. He accepted and so did my mother-in-law pushing our travel number up to five (Well, that was good enough. We would have ample room and this trip would be a triple blessing).
I gassed it up, filled the propane, looked over the controls and hit the road to pick up the family. My son got all his Tae Kwon Do gear ready while my mother-in-law and my wife packed up some food for the trip. Everyone was so excited! I was really surprised by how easy it was to drive. The minute I got behind the wheel I felt comfortable. The controls were accessible and easy to work. It was like driving a pick-up truck but we were in a class C. To be honest, I prepared myself for a rough drive through traffic on Friday evening southbound to Oregon in a large foreign vehicle. The outcome was quite different. I was so comfortable driving the Greyhawk. The ride was smooth and the visibility was amazing. Ok, traffic itself was a little rough but we were all enjoying the motor-home together and I didn’t think much about the traffic. We were all having fun singing songs, telling jokes and playing games.
A few hours later we drove into Oregon City. This was our first time staying in Oregon City. My wife had done a little investigating to see if there was any place to park for the night. She found a great RV Park just off the freeway. It’s called Clackamette RV Park. We got there a little too late for check in but come morning time we would set up shop right on the river. That night we stayed in the parking lot of a strip mall just across the street from Clackamette. To avoid problems, I set my alarm to get up early so that we could be out of the lot when the morning rush of customers come.
We rose early the next morning and I secured our spot at Clackamette, a beautiful view right on the river for only $25. Amazing! I have never paid so little for an overnight stay and one with a river view. After getting our spot reserved it was time to go to the tournament.
My son did great for his first time. He was nervous but it was a solid experience for him. With all of my experience in Martial arts I was able to reassure him of his place in the line-up. The Tourney was a great success, he came away with a medal and a new confidence.
When we got back to Clackamette RV Park; we hooked up our city water, power and then I let the slide out. We were set! I was greeted by the manager and he was really helpful and friendly. We had a great time that evening and enjoyed the whole next day riding bikes, playing with the dog, walking on the docks watching all the people fishing and of course celebrating our nephew’s birthday. I have to say this was probably one of the best vacations we have ever had. The big factor in its success was the freedom to go wherever we wanted ( Namely to camp right on the river), no huge expenses, being outside/ enjoying outside activities and of course the ease of all the features on the Jayco Greyhawk, specifically the drive-ability. This is a great memory for our family!
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