Best-kept overnight secret in Eugene

We are parked along the Willamette River at the Valley River Center mall, in Eugene, Oregon (map).

We've stayed here before, and like the spot because there are a variety of restaurants a short walk away, along with all the stores in the mall itself, including a multiplex cinema. The view can't be beat, right on the river, with access to the city's wonderful paved riverside trail. We arrived late yesterday afternoon, and spent a quiet and undisturbed night. This morning, as we were heading out to walk over to the cinema, we were approached by security's roaming lot patrol.

Apparently the mall is under new management, and the rules have changed. Fortunately, overnight parking here is still allowed, although there is now a two-night limit. Also, they want you to check in, and they will issue you a lime-green pass to go in the window, which alerts the patrols that you are already checked in. On the pass are written a half dozen or so "rules," which are really just common sense and already covered by the industry-sanctioned overnight parking etiquette memo that I have linked here several times.

Now that we're all checked-in and legal, we've decided to spend another night here. Last night we ate at Olive Garden just a couple blocks away, and today we saw the new Star Trek movie at the theater, probably the first time we've been to the cinema in over a year. Tonight we will pick one of the many other restaurants nearby.

We had hoped to stop in and say hello to some friends just a bit north of here today, but it turns out that they aren't available until tomorrow, and they've also actually moved here to Eugene. So tomorrow we will need to find new digs for another night; we might run up to Harrisburg where these same friends have some property we can use.

On our way here from Grants Pass yesterday, we stopped off at the Safeway in Roseburg, principally because my fuel price resources showed it had nearly the cheapest diesel in all of Oregon ($2.269 with Safeway club card). While I was putting in 110 gallons (OK, actually standing around watching some guy put that much in -- you are not permitted to pump your own fuel in Oregon), Louise ran into the store for a handful of necessities, including a number of items to try to tempt Opal into eating.

She turned her nose up at the jerky treats (which smelled, to me at least, amazingly similar to jerky intended for people rather than dogs), but the stinky wet Safeway-brand dog food finally did the trick, and we managed to coax her into eating a few ounces last night. We also picked up some flavored Pedialyte with the sugar already in it, and we have been giving her that as well, since she is still not eating enough. Today we have only managed to talk her into a couple of bites so far.

Now that she is at least eating something, and seems to be improving hourly, we are going to give her another night. Tomorrow morning we will need to decide if the situation warrants another vet visit, before the weekend makes that more difficult (not to mention expensive). If she continues to eat and improve, we will stay the course. If we can just keep the darned cats out of the wet dog food.

We had also hoped to catch up with our friend in Portland this weekend, but the schedules just did not mesh, and so our route north from here is something of an unanswered question. We may still head up the Willamette valley anyway, and do some touristy things in Portland, or else we can swing a bit east or west from here and get off the Interstate. In any case, we'd like to be in Washington on Monday to get our driver license and registration issues squared away.