Saturday, August 27, 2016, Timber Valley SKP

Too soon, it was time for goodbyes to old friends and new as the Roll Your Wagons West ACA National Rally came to an end.  We headed north a short 39.8 miles (79,546.7 total) to the small town of Sutherlin, OR and parked in the Timber Valley Escapee Co-op.

Timber Valley certainly had a lot of nice features.  The park was extremely quiet.  It was convenient to I-5, but far enough away so you could not hear the traffic.  It was surrounded by beautifully wooded hills.  Each lot was the same size with full RV hook-ups and a 10 by 12 foot shed.  Maybe 30 or 40 percent of the lots housed park models, but most were RVs that spent a significant amount of time there.  And, of course, just a few miles south in Roseburg there was just about any shopping you might need including a Costco!  Almost immediately, Sandy, one of the parks greeters stopped in to make us welcome and fill us in on the area and many of the sights.

There was plenty of wildlife in this park.  A doe and her two calves made a daily stop to munch on the tender leaves of the Rose of Sharon bush in our lot.  

On early morning walks with Sam, I would see as many as a dozen deer and more jack rabbits and turkeys than I could count.

Sam did not know what to think when confronted with the very strange big eared creatures with the long legs.  Most often they would freeze hoping they would not be seen, but when we were too close they would rise up on those long legs to twice Sam's height and hop away in a hurry.  They reminded me more of kangaroos than rabbits.  Eventually, Sam was comfortable enough to harass them with an occasional menacing bark, but usually, he just ignored them.

Several times I would notice a jackrabbit in the neighboring lot.  If he saw me looking he would just freeze hoping I would lose interest. They could pivot those huge ears about 100 degrees without moving their heads to listen in different directions.

The turkeys could be seen almost any time of day.  They were not very trusting of Sam which was a little strange since he really never paid them any attention.  They seemed determined to keep a respectable distance from such a menacing looking wolf hound like Sam.

When I checked in on RVillage, I saw several other members were currently at Timber Valley including Terry and Sue in their Winnebago Tour.  As I was walking Sam, I stopped in to say "Hello".  It took Terry by surprise when I introduced myself and knew "things" about them (that I read on RVillage).  He said Sue took care of all of the computer stuff.  Joani figured I might have seemed a bit like a stalker.  Sue joined us later for a glass of wine (while Terry readied the coach for driving the next day) and we compared RV stories.  They also sold everything and had been full-timing for almost two years.  Hopefully, we will see them again someday.

On our last morning walk, I spotted something moving along the tree line that was too small to be a deer and too big to be a rabbit.  I was thinking raccoon or opossum, but it turned out to be the local pot-bellied pig.  OK, he did not count as "wildlife" but he was certainly different.   

I have to say, Timber Valley made me consider actually putting our names on the waiting list to purchase a lot, but ultimately, we decided it was better to just continue our travels and wait a while longer before making any permanent commitments.