Awake: 7:51am Temp 45 sleep 7+28 off & on rain windy overnight @ Silverton, OR.
Now that we've had our coffee, ate breakfast, retracted our slides & the tow car is hooked up, I called Silver Leaf Electronics Inc. in Albany, Oregon & talked with Cory. I asked him if we could have a tour of the Silver Leaf Electronics today; "I'll have to ask my boss," he says. When he returned, he told me that the boss says "Ok, but could you come around 1:00pm?" "We sure can" I tell him.
I attended a Silver Leaf Electronics seminar @ the Perry Georgia Rally earlier this yr & thoroughly enjoyed the subject. Going south today, we will motor very near to this company & I can't pass an opportunity to see this operation 1st hand.
We left the Silver Spur Campground @ 12:15pm...backtracking to I-5, then southwest on State hwy-99 to Albany & the Silver Leaf Company.
As Cory told me over the phone, there was ample parking in front of their building for our motorhome & tow car. Inside, 1st we met Cory whom I've talked with via phone several times, & he introduced us to the founder & owner of the company, Martin.
Martin, in his (40's), has been involved with recreational vehicles for over (30) yrs now. He told us that his father started the Safari RV Co & he naturally got into the business but advanced in a little different direction by studying electronics.
As we walked slowly through the office, he briefly described what the guys are doing there & then took us out to the main research area of the building. Seeing the electronic boxes & the circuit boards lying around, doesn't really show what all the digital stuff they come up with.
For instance, in our motorhome, we have a "digital-dash" made by them & it monitors dozens of data from so many different sensors, sources & systems: i.e. trip info, miles to go, arrival time, fuel used, average speed, rolling miles per hour, instantaneous miles per gallon, coolant temp, fuel remaining, battery voltage, transmission hydraulic temp, engine diagnostic screen, engine history, etc, etc.
All of the above was related to the engine & driving data. Aside from the engine, Silver Leaf monitors & controls: two different places to start & control the generator, reads pure water amount in percent, gray water amount in percent, automatic fresh water fill, temp in basement, controls two inverters, protects the coach from surges, cross wiring, frequency & volts of AC power, etc. There are a few more things but I think I've mentioned enough.
We enjoyed Martin's tour & thanked him very much for his time; he wanted me to send a message to the Newell president that: Foretravel Coachworks has more Digital Dashes on order this month than Newell does. I probably won't deliver that message.
From Albany, we continued on our southerly direction taking State Hwy-99 (a more scenic route) & meeting up with I-5 in Eugene. Off & on rain continued throughout our day until reaching Myrtle Creek, OR arriving @ 4:45pm.
Today's travel: 184 miles 3+54 time 33 gal used 5.5 mpg 47 mph avg speed.
This Tri City RV Park is relatively new (4) yrs; with good level concrete & asphalt sites, wireless & very clean. However, when the campground is full, we suspect that big rigs might have problems getting in & out of their campsites.
Dinner: Italian sausage from Mt. Angel, (2) yr old-corn off the cob grown by Floentz in Nicktown & still most delicious, & a mixed salad.
We finished watching: "Too Hot to Handle" with Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Walter Pidgeon, Leo Carrillo, etc. Gable and Pidgeon are rival newsreel photographers vying for aviatrix Loy in this fast-paced action-comedy. 1938. Fun to watch story with some good shots of late 30's aircraft.
Lights out: 12:08am.
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