We are in Eugene, at the paint shop (map).

Mike Wilson is touching up a handful of blemishes and goofs, as well as the few dings and scratches that we have put in the paint over the last ten months. He is also fixing a fairly major problem on the back of the coach, where water has been intruding under the paint.

We had hoped that this problem was limited in scope and had been occuring only since painting last September. However, the extent of the corrosion now indicates that water has been there almost since the panel was replaced during the intial bodywork phase of the project. It would appear that the bondo became saturated at some point, and the paint served to seal the water in rather than out. In any case, a good bit of paint and body filler had to be removed from the back panel, and the entire panel will need to be repainted. They will tape over the "Odyssey" graphic first, paint around it, and then airbrush the shadows back in.

The paint is cracking over the hinges on the engine door as well, and Mike is going to weld in some additional supports to keep the door from flexing before he touches that area up.

We had hoped to be here only a day or two, but the back panel and tailgate will take longer and we may be here until the end of the week. Unfortunately, this means we will miss the WeStar motorcycle rally that has already started over in Diamond Lake. We'd pull the bikes out and ride over there (120 miles each way) for an overnight visit if it were not for the question of what to do with the dog.

As it stands now, we are scheduled to be in Minot (rhymes with "why not"), North Dakota on the 14th for the FMCA convention, and we will be heading in that direction from here whenever the paint is done.