Friday, August 2, 2024 - Today, we drove for 45 minutes to the small, county park called Harris Park near Milton-Freewater, Oregon. The road was narrow with hanging tree limbs, but it was used enough by large campers that we did not hit any trees. Since we had prechecked this park, we were able to get in and parked without any problems at all. A very nice campsite right along the river. Bill and Gina Deweber (and Maggi, their dog) came out and parked right next to us.  

We met Chad and Chip, the two custodians of the park. They are very nice and we had fun talking to them. They helped us find the easiest way into the park with our large rig. They also mentioned that we could sit on our lawn chairs in the water of the creek as they had made some small dams that blocked the current and made it easy to cool your feet in the water. We sat on our chairs in the water for about and hour cooling down. About 4:00 pm, Bill, Gina, and Maggi (their dog) arrived. We harassed Bill as he set up his rig for the very first time. He did a great job and has the system down for moving and setting up the rig. He has studied many videos on YouTube which is what I did before setting out on these adventures. Bill has a brand-new Toyota pickup truck. It is beautiful and has all the bells-and-whistles on it. Great for pulling this size of a rig. After setup, we went for a short hike through the campground to get some exercise. Many people were arriving and it is always fun to watch "novices" try to back in their small campers. We then went back to the campers to sit and visit for a while before dinner. Gina made a great pasta dinner plate and we all ate in our trailer. After dinner, we visited and talked until about 9:00pm when we decided to break for the night. Then we met Brittney!

As Bill and Gina stepped out of our trailer, we were faced with a rather tall, young lady who was crying and muttering incomprehensibly. She was very disturbed. Seems that she was staying in a cabin with a guy who had decided to treat her badly. She was afraid for her safety, but she was incoherent. She was went and said that the guy had tossed her in the river. She had scratches on her lower legs from running though the berry bushes. It seemed that she was being abused by someone who scared her. We got her to sit down, gave her water, and tried to get more info. There were no rangers at the park, and we had no cell phone service at all. We did not want to take her back into a bad situation, so we decided that Lisa and I would take her to Milton-Freewater to get cell phone service and contact someone for her. We called her dad in Napa, California, but he did not answer and his answering machine was full. We called her mom in Napa, but could only leave a message. By this time, Brittney had begun to settle down and converse with us. We did not smell any alcohol, but drugs may have been an issue. She was 38 years old, had gone to culinary school, and worked as a chef in Walla Walla until her boss asked for a drug test and she was fired. She said that the police in Walla Walla knew her, so we decided to drive her to the police station in Walla Walla. Upon arrival, we found that there were no police at the station after hours. We pushed a button and were connected with the 911 dispatcher. She had a patrol team of two cops come to the police station to meet us. They knew Brittney. They took my name and number and Lisa and I were able to leave after saying "Goodbye" to Brittney. Brittney's mother then called us and said that Brittney had tied up with a guy who was of questionable repute and that Brittney needed to leave the Walla Walla area. The mother planned to help her. We arrived back at the RV at about 11:00pm and called it a day. We learned that Brittney had pressed charges against the guy who had a warrant out and who was not supposed to come near Brittney. The local sheriff had come to the camp and arrested the guy at 1:00pm in the morning. The camp staff put a lock on their cabin and would not allow them to leave without paying for their camping fees. This was a very unusual situation to experience. We were never in danger, but it was different. Brittney seemed like a very nice young lady caught up in a bad relationship. We have not had any experiences like this over our entire six years of travel. Kind of weird, but a little look at what is going on in our country.

Saturday, August 3, 2024 - Today, after breakfast, we all went for a hike along the Walla Walla River. It is a beautiful river and makes for a great hike. There were some fishermen along the way fly-fishing for trout. The water is about 55 degrees and pretty cold. Cold for us, but great for trout. The trail began to get pretty wet from water fed by springs along the mountain sides, so we decided to abort and head back after about a mile. It was a fun hike and Maggi really enjoyed it, although she seemed to be ready for a nap when she got back to her RV.

We then adjourned to our respective RVs for some R&R (rest and relaxation). Later in the afternoon, we went out and played with the drone. We used the First Person View (FPV) goggles so that Bill and Gina could see what the drone sees while it is flying. Then, in the early evening, we had dinner together at our place. Gina barbequed our burgers on her new grill and they came out great. Again, we visited well into the evening.

Sunday, August 4, 2024 - After breakfast, we visited with Bill and Gina before beginning the process of breaking down our camps. By 10:00 am, we were both ready to head back to civilization (Walla Walla). On the way, we stopped at the Centex service station in Walla Walla to use their dump site. We did not have any sewer system availability at Harris Park, so we both wanted to dump our tanks. We would be traveling on to Yakima while Bill and Gina would be taking their rig home for storage until their next camping trip next weekend. Bill did a great job of dumping and cleaning his black and grey tanks. This was the very first excursion for Bill and Gina with this new unit and they did a great job. Seemed like they had been doing this for years even though it was their first trip. I was totally impressed. I planned to be really cool and give them all this brainy advice, but I did not have anything to add; bummer!

After dumping our tanks, We continued on our way to Yakima, Washington. The trip was excellent with good roads and not too much traffic.