Rob’s Corner

Once again, it’s been entirely too long since I’ve checked in here!

 Now that
the wholesale shows are done, I’ll actually have something interesting to
say and time to post it.

The two questions

I’m most commonly asked are;

what dealers carry your tie-downs?

and what’s the best place to eat?

While I haven’t had time to
resume the exercise program, I have found some great places to eat. I highly
recommend trying these places, when you’re in the area.

Waldo’s BBQ. (4500 E. Main St., Mesa, AZ) has some of the best BBQ I’ve had.

If you like Split-pea soup, try Andersen’s (376 Ave. of the Flags, Buellton,
CA). My wife hates Pea Soup so I ate all I could eat of their
all-you-can-eat. Great desert too.

If you’re really hungry, try the Kopper Kettle Café (243 Main & Myrtle,
Chester, CA). Tons of great food for little money. If you go there, check
out the picture over the register. When my Grandfather was alive, he did a
pencil sketch of the restaurant and it’s still there.

The Tumalo Feed Company (64619 Hwy 20, Bend, OR) has award winning steaks.
Even if the steaks weren’t the best in central Oregon, the atmosphere is
worth going there.

My “Best in the West” award goes to the Greenwater Lodge Coffee Shop (58106
SR 410, Greenwater, WA). The old lodge is fun for the family and romantic
for couples. The owner/chef, Michelle, used to be the chef at one of
Seattle’s swanky restaurants (Ruth’s Chris, I think). The glazed salmon is
incredible but the flat-iron steak is consistently the best you’ll find
anywhere. Trust me on this one, you’ll be glad you did.

If anyone has a favorite place, I’d be happy to mention them but I’ll have
to go there first.

Camping season is just around the corner. This year, I’m planning on camping
as much as I can.

I bought a Jeep , to tow
behind my rig. If anyone has any suggestions or advice….

I’ve always wanted one with a V-8 & side-pipes.

If I flat-tow it, I won’t be putting any tongue-load on my Super
Truss and it should be an easy tow.

Thanks

Rob Rapose

It’s Christmas time and what a year it’s been!

This year, I scheduled myself to end my travel a week before Christmas (usually, I’m fighting traffic all over the country and scrambling to catch a delayed flight back home). Though, things have been tough-going lately.

  Last week, I flew down to Redding, CA to pick up the truck and camper to drive over to Reno, NV. My connecting flight was delayed, so I got in late. I thought I’d take my chances (with a snowstorm arriving at the same time) and cut straight across rather than drive down to Sacramento. Also, I thought this would give me a chance to visit the graves of my grandparents, who are buried in Chester, CA.

 The roads were solid ice and it started snowing heavy around 10PM. I arrived at Lake Almanor around 1AM but couldn’t find a place to stay for the night. So, I drove to a campground where I’d camped with my parents, when I was a child. My uncle actually built this campground after returning from Vietnam, in the 70’s. It was closed, but I found an open gate and parked in an area I remembered well (see pic). Boy was it cold! I’m glad I filled the propane before I left (and brought my army - cold-weather sleeping bag.

 The next morning, on my way to Chester, I drove by the house my grandparents built and lived in. As there was a foot of snow on the ground, I couldn’t even find the cemetery.

 Once I got to Chester, I went to the Kopper Kettle for breakfast (this one wins my “Best Place to Eat” award for this posting). I sat at the counter and chatted with a guy (I think his name was Bill) about our show truck. As it turns out, he owns a welding shop and actually did some work for my grandfather. When I went to pay my check, I noticed that one of the many sketches hanging on the wall was done by my grandfather. He loved that restaurant so much, he drew a pencil-sketch of it and they still have it in the same spot, after all these years. The waitress didn’t believe me, till she saw my name on the credit card.  

 By this time, the roads had been plowed and I made good time to Reno. I heard about the “big storm” rolling in by the end of the week and my flight was booked out of Medford, OR. So, as quick as I could, I headed north, towards Klamath Falls (I had a couple stops to make there as well). The rain turned to snow and after dark, I didn’t see another car on the road. I decided to stop for the night and turned down a logging road. I was only 50 yards off the highway, when the truck started sinking through the snow and into the soft mud. The road was too narrow to turn around so I locked into 4-wheel drive. I soon realized that I wouldn’t find a place to turn around and if I stopped, I’d sink. No cell service and no internet signal; I needed to come up with something quick. So, I got as much speed as I could and turned the truck, 90 deg., up the hillside till I lost momentum and just the tires were spinning. I kept them spinning with the wheels turned hard and this slid the truck all the way around till I dropped back into the ruts I made on the way in. Once I rocked the truck out of that hole, I finally made it out. That’s not the end of the story….

  Now that I was really stressed out, I really wanted to call it a day. I found another logging road (this one was on higher ground) and drove to a turn-around where I stopped and set up to camp for the night. As I was having dinner, my lights suddenly went dim and the battery warning alarm started chirping away. There wasn’t even juice in the batteries to fire the generator. I shut everything down and lit candles but the battery alarm wouldn’t quit and I really didn’t want to stand in the snow trying to unhook the batteries. I wound up driving the rest of the 75 miles to Klamath Falls to stay in a hotel.  

 I made it to Medford the next day, and flew home to more storm damage than I can remember. But, this year, I’m not flying home just before Christmas, my decorations are all up (with part of the neighbors fence and lawn furniture), and I’m actually going to have my shopping done (mostly) before the 24^th.

 I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas with lots of presents, family and food. I’ll look forward to seeing everyone in 2007,

Rob

And now the

While driving up an on-ramp in North Hollywood

I was run off the road!

I guess this guy figured, being an RV, that I was going to be going slow. By the time he got around me, the lanes merged and I had to drive onto the shoulder when he cut me off. I hit a bump and everything on the right side of the camper was now on the left. The boxed displays tore away from the straps and removed several trim pieces as they became airborne. Luckily, I only had one SuperHitch display but that did the most damage. The topper was when I was trying to clean up the mess and caught a staple (where the trim used to be) and made a 4” incision in my leg. I didn’t get a plate number so I didn’t call the police. I didn’t think it would do any good to give them the description (Blond driving a red BMW, convertible in Hollywood).

I recently drove through the “Day Fire” in Southern California and was amazed by how much land was burned. It was a sunny and clear day driving up I-5 till I hit a wall of smoke. It was so thick I thought it was fog. I couldn’t see 20 feet in front of the truck. I think all of California’s efforts to reduce vehicle emissions, over the years, was negated by this fire.

I spent a night in Santa Barbara near the Beach. It’s usually foggy there in the morning but it was clear as can be when I was there. What a beautiful place and nice people there too. It’s easy to understand why renting a studio apartment can be double what the mortgage is in most of the country.

As the camping season is winding down, I’m preparing to start the show season. It’s been a busy year. Where did summer go? I still have too much yard work yet to do! We did go gold prospecting this year. Our new “Highbanker” (power sluice) worked great! My wife, Brenda, would load up buckets of dirt and I would feed it into the machine

 (with a beer in one hand)

. We didn’t find any nuggets large enough to brag but we got several small ones and plenty of gold flakes. It was a beautiful place to camp on the Naches River near Yakima. Not a soul in sight and the kids had a blast. I put a new stereo in the camper so we had good tunes, to boot.

I didn’t need that 3 foot King Snake to sneak up on me while I was sitting on the river bank, AAAHHH!!!

I’ll be bouncing all over the country over the next few months. Texas, Indiana, back to California, then Maine, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Oregon (in that order). Whew, I don’t know how I do it.

Till next time….

Hi all, I’ve had some trouble updating this blog but I should be changing it at least once a month from here on out.

 , it’s been a busy summer! It started out at the North American Truck Camper Rally in Ogallala, NE.

It was a great show and next year will be huge, I’m sure. It was the most fun I’ve ever had at a show. Everyone in the business was there and it was a great way to compare every brand, side by side. The band was outstanding, and the dancing didn’t stop (even after the band did).

Doug’s (S&S Campers) brother in law,

 “Crazy Mike” made the best Texas BBQ you can imagine

(on a Texas size smoker that looked like a Navy sub).

Randy and Craig from Hallmark Campers borrowed my old guitar and did a bunch of work on it (strings, shimmed the neck, etc). I’m truly grateful for their time and generosity. It’s always a good time with NATCOA.

 From there, I went to Arizona. I’ve been bouncing between there, Washington, and British Columbia. This season has been a busy one for everyone in the industry. I’m surprised that AZ is so busy this summer. Usually things are slow during the summer but not this year. I must have lost 10lbs in that heat! I was stopped by the police in Yuma, AZ. I was in a hurry trying to get from Mesa to San Diego but I stopped to get something to eat.

 When I came out of the restaurant, a guy asked me some questions about the camper and then asked me for a couple bucks. As I got back on the highway, I was pulled over by an unmarked police car.

Hi all,

 This is a new segment that I’ll personally update with reports of interesting places I go and the great people I get to meet. As the National Factory Representative for Torklift, I do a ton of traveling, mostly in one of our show trucks outfitted with a camper. I’ll be taking pictures during my travels and posting them for all to see. Also, I may post interesting pix that are sent to me. So, if you have some pix (camping, off-roading, whatever) send ‘em to me and if I use them on here, I’ll send you a hat or something. Let’s see what you have. E-mail me at torkliftrob@hotmail.com.

 Recently, I attended the NATCOA (N. Am. Truck Camper Assn.) NW rally on Camino Island, WA. I brought my wife & kids in the red Ford and met up with Jack (one of the owners) in the black Dodge. I was surprised by the big turn-out and everyone had a great time in spite of the rain Saturday night.

 My boys stayed in the tent this time and I finally figured out how it works (at the Lance Owners of Am. Camp-out, my tent kept collapsing on me). This time, I had electrical problems in my camper and was awakened by the low battery warning beep around 3am.

The food was great (Bubba went the extra mile, braving the wind and rain to serve us) but climbing up that cliff, going back to camp, with a full belly was a challenge. Of course there was a campfire, beer-tasting, and good conversation, (as always).

 I’m looking forward to the big rally in Nebraska next month. Jack and Robin as well as myself, will be there to answer questions in our booth. It should be a scenic drive this time of year to be followed by lots of fun at the rally!

 My starting point will be Triple A RV in Medford, OR on July 12^th. Shoot me an e-mail if anyone wants to caravan.

Welcome to my corner of the world.