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Ebony Shadow
Our Towable, Subaru Forester 2.5i Premium
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| Return to 2016 |
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Saturday, April 23, 2016: I pressure washed the barbeque today. Then spent the morning in the clubhouse trying for a better Internet connection. Since we are leaving here in 3 weeks, we have not reinstalled our Charter Internet service. All of the park's Internet service is weak, even in the clubhouse but we are making is work.
Gwen has tagged Ebony Shadow for the Oregon Ducks. So far I've gotten away with an Oregon State Beavers license plate frame on the front. I know the "Ducks" frame will go in the back. |
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Friday, April 22, 2016: Yesterday was Ebony Shadow's day for installation of a Blue Ox base plate. Blue Ox is one of the finest if not THE finest tow bars. It is very clean and almost invisible on the car. The installation, including the base plate, electrical wiring for the lights and installation of the Ready Brake cable took Ron (Ron's Hitch and Tow) nine hours. He charged only $400 labor, fortunate because the shop rate for any RV shop ranges $90 - $120/hour, considerably more than what Ron charged. |
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| At the end of the day, Ron had to solve two issues. The tail lights mysteriously would not work properly. It took only 20 minutes for him to discover a defective plug rather than a mistake in wiring. When the car was connected to the motorhome, the running lights would not work. In ten minutes, Ron discovered a defective fuse in the motorhome. Ron also gave me credit for an 8" drop receiver I had purchased in Arizona from CraigsList. It turned out, 8" was too much of a drop so I purchased a shorter drop from Amazon. Now, for today. I needed a Blue Ox tow bar. I don't want to pay the "new" price so I checked CraigsList hoping a Blue Ox bar was still available which I had found earlier for 1/3 the price of a new bar. So now the Forester can be towed. I'm sure the Blue Ox tow bar will show up in future photos. Click the photos for additional views. |
 Tuesday, April 12, 2016: Today is our last day in Klamath Falls. While here, we met Dave of Double D Window Tinting and he was able to squeeze us into his busy schedule before we leave for Sutherlin. The passenger and driver windows are only very lightly tinted and we wanted them to the legal maximum. We also wanted the windshield tinted to cut down on the heat and protect the dash from UV rays. After giving us a quote I mentioned I could write Dave a Webpage in trade for the work. We agreed on the trade so I'll build a page for Dave in the next few days. Note the dark tint at the top of the windshield. I checked and it's right where the sun visor would cover so I expect this darker tint will be a real blessing when driving into the sun. Click Dave's photo for an inside view. |
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| Monday, April 11, 2016: Gwen wanted to go for a drive today in the new car to Keno, Oregon to view the Klamath River. Keno is only a few miles from Klamath Lake, the largest natural lake in Oregon. Really, the whole drive was so Gwen could test the new car of the sharp turns on this mountain road. She let me drive on the return to Klamath Falls. Well, we DID stop at BiMart to get some velcro to hold up the litter bag in the car passenger side. While shopping we also found some recommended Turtle Wax brand "Jet Black Detail Spray". Click the photos for additional views. |
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| Thursday - Saturday, April 7 - 9, 2016: I know, it was only a couple days since returning to Sutherlin and to the Prius where it has been sitting since last September. We knew the Prius had to be replaced by something we could tow. We need a comfortable car while we travel. The Prius could not be towed. While in Klamath Falls, we test drove the Subaru CrossTrek and Forester, then the Honda HRV and CRV and sat in the Kia Soul. We had others on our list be they would have to be used vehicles because too expensive as new vehicles. From the test drives, we decided on the Subaru Forester. The Forester can be towed with a manual transmission. I searched every dealer in Oregon and Washington and found ONE in Puyallup, Washington. So we fully expected to order one and wait three months for delivery. I was working with four Subaru dealers hoping to find one with the best price for an order. I really wanted to deal with Kendall Subaru in Eugene, Oregon, the closest dealer to Sutherlin, our home base. While visiting them they did a search of other dealers and found one in Beaverton, Oregon but the report said, "Sold Order: Gottwald". The really only wanted the invoice so they would know how much they could offer one to me if I ordered one. Jeremy is my salesman and he suggested, "there might be a 1% chance it is still available, sometimes that happens". He asked his manager to call Beaverton while He and I discussed the price of an order. About ten minutes later we learned that something had happened to the Beaverton order and the car was actually available. After a quick call to Gwen to learn if she liked BLACK we began negotiation in earnest. Kendall offered a fair trade on the Prius plus their invoice price on the Forester. They didn't have financing I liked. I remembered that Sutherlin had a credit union which always offered the lowest financing on auto loans so I called them. I talked with Connie at First Community Credit Union and within five minutes I had been approved for a loan. I couldn't believe how easy it was. The paperwork was done. Jeremy left to pick up the Forester in Beaverton, 100 miles north. I took delivery the next morning. I couldn't believe how quickly it happened. Now the work begins to make the Forester our own as we did the Prius. We will have a major expense with adding the towing gear to the Forester but I was figuring on that. My friends Jack and Carole tow a Forester behind their motorhome and were helpful with the many questions we had. We are working on a name for the Forester. |
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Tuesday, April 12, 2016: Today is our last day in Klamath Falls. While here, we met Dave of Double D Window Tinting and he was able to squeeze us into his busy schedule before we leave for Sutherlin. The passenger and driver windows are only very lightly tinted and we wanted them to the legal maximum. We also wanted the windshield tinted to cut down on the heat and protect the dash from UV rays. After giving us a quote I mentioned I could write Dave a Webpage in trade for the work. We agreed on the trade so I'll build a page for Dave in the next few days. Note the dark tint at the top of the windshield. I checked and it's right where the sun visor would cover so I expect this darker tint will be a real blessing when driving into the sun. Click Dave's photo for an inside view. 
