Our stay on a Potato Farm in Malin, Oregon

After we left the Reno, Nevada area, we drove through a little bit of California before arriving in southern Oregon.  We were spending the night at a potato farm.

 

  

We were met by the owner, Jan, who told us where to park for the night.  She also let us know that she would meet us the next morning and give us a tour of their potato processing facility.

 

The next morning Jan arrived and opened the back hatch of her car which had a display of some of the products that are made with her potatoes.

Some potatoes are shipped to South Korea to be made into potato snacks.

They also have a local brand of potato chips.

She offered us to take a bag or two of chips.

Then she started to explain the potato growing and processing of "chipping" potatoes which are potatoes grown to make potato chips.

Here are fields of potato plants. 

We were not there at the right time to see the harvesting of the potatoes from the field.  When the potatoes are picked, they are stored in these very large metal Quonset type buildings.

I went inside one of the building to see how the potatoes were stored.

On the left are galvanized steel tubes with holes to allow air circulation.  The tubes are laid horizontally among the potatoes stored in the shed.

The red machine on the right is used to load the potatoes on to a truck.

Once the truck is filled, it takes the potatoes to the processing plant nearby. 

  

The truck backs up to the processing plant and unloads the potatoes.

Look at the truck's name - Spudnik!

 

 

Potatoes entering the facility.

The potatoes get washed....

Then they travel on conveyor belts for more washing...

Then they get bumped around in this machine that has openings for various sizes to fall through.  The different recipients of the potatoes have strict guidelines for the potatoes they will accept and particular sizes is one of them.

The larger potatoes make the bumpy ride all the way to the right.

Now that they have been separated by size they travel on more conveyor belts.....

These ladies were picking out bad potatoes and potato shaped rocks that made their way into the processing plant.....

The work load doesn't appear to be split evenly between these two belts on the right.

There is a rock trying to sneak in.

In the middle of it all was the "brains" of the equipment.

 

There were conveyor belts with potatoes going every direction and at pretty high speeds.  It was fascinating to watch.

This bin had potatoes shooting out from the top right at high speed.

These potatoes were all washed and sized and ready for bagging.

 

The potatoes then take another conveyor belt ride over to the baggers. 

Bagged and ready to be loaded on to a truck to either Lays, a local potato chip making plant, shipped overseas, or possibly In-N-Out Burger!

 

These potatoes were being bagged for In-N-Out Burger restaurants in the Pacific Northwest. 

That is a LOT of potatoes!

 

Jan filled a small sack with some potatoes right off the line to give to us. 

After learning about chipping potatoes, it made us hungry for potatoes, well more like French fries!  We drove in to "downtown" Malin, Oregon.

 

 

We managed to find a place to park the truck and RV near this old gas station which is being converted in to a visitor center once they reach the fund raising goal.  Looks like they have a long way to go based on the sign.

 

 

This was pretty much all there was to downtown Malin! 

We ate at this diner as it looked to be the only restaurant open.

The diner and patrons had a real hometown feel.  The waitress came and sat at our table for a few minutes asking us where we were from, etc.  We got to talking to people at the table next to us and one of them donated items to the local museum as his family had long history in the area.  Real nice local folks!

It did get busier as the lunch crowd arrived.

We really enjoyed our visit to the Gold Dust and Walker potato farm.  Jan was such a gracious host.  It is one of the things we love to do while traveling around the country.  Learning new things and getting to see them with our own eyes.

Next we are headed to the Crater Lake area in Oregon.

Reno, Nevada

After leaving South Lake Tahoe in California we were making our way north of Reno for the Memorial Day weekend.  Along the route we were passing by Battleborn Batteries, the manufacturer of our lithium batteries.  Since our solar was not performing its best, we stopped by and a couple of techs came out to take a look at our setup. 

 

We parked in their parking lot and the techs came out to look at our setup.  Unfortunately it was a cloudy day so it made it more difficult to evaluate the system since the solar panels were not generating much power.

Sean and Roni of Battleborn took a look at our setup and using their apps to check on the functionality of it. 

Sean and Roni spent about a 1.5 hours with us looking over our system and making recommendations for improvements.  Al was pleased that some experts looked over his installation and didn't find any blaring issues.  We left them with a plan to watch the system over the holiday weekend capturing info from the app connected to our charge controller and then return on Tuesday to determine next steps.  

Well, over the weekend, Al went up on the roof and found a loose wire and that fixed the problem along with the recommendation of changing the configuration of the wiring of the four batteries which were professionally installed.  The wiring change would draw the power equally from all four batteries instead of draining each battery separately. 

For holiday weekends I like to have reservations so we don't have trouble finding a place to spend the nights.  Memorial day weekend we stayed at Bordertown Casino and RV Resort which was north of Reno, Nevada and at the state line with California. 

 

 The park was full for the holiday weekend.

 

The casino was very small with people smoking inside.  Not a place for us.

Over the weekend I did laundry and Al worked on the suggestions from Sean and Roni.  He also had time to take the generator apart to replace the pull cord.  While it was apart he removed so much dirt it accumulated!  Al got the cord replaced and the generator all put back together without any extra parts remaining.  And it started on the first pull! 

Now both the solar and the generator are working great!  Yipee!

One day we took public transportation to downtown Reno to walk around.

Bus Station

The Truckee River goes through town and we enjoyed walking along the river and viewing some public art. 

After more than a year of haggling, city officials seem to be closing in on purchasing the controversial Space Whale sculpture. 

Reno City Council on Wednesday approved $137,500 to purchase and repair the sculpture that has been in City Plaza since 2017. The price includes $62,500 to buy the sculpture and $75,000 for repairs. 

Artist Matt Schultz created Space Whale for Burning Man 2016. At one point, he was asking more than $1 million for the sculpture, with funds going back to his team of artists and the Generator, the local arts and maker space where it was built.

The "Believe" sculpture has hopped around for the past three years, but it finally has nestled into its permanent home.

Using cranes, city of Reno crews relocated the former 2013 Burning Man sculpture from the ReTrac Plaza, near the Reno arch, to the City Plaza letter-by-letter.

The City Plaza, located at the corner of First Street and Virginia Street, is the former home of the historic Mapes Hotel. The sculpture formerly was in the same location in July 2014 to serve as the backdrop for the filming of the American Idol summer bus tour.

"Believe" is one of a series of 12-foot-high rustic, block letter word sculptures made of 4-foot-thick steel. In all, the letters span 70 feet together.

The Tahoe–Pyramid Trail is a planned 114-mile long-distance pedestrian and bicycle trail which will run between Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake, principally along the routing of the Truckee River.

Washoe County Courthouse

Greater Nevada Field home of the Reno Aces

The Reno Aces are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Unfortunately there were no home games over the weekend for us to attend.

Our route from South Lake Tahoe to the Bordertown Casino and RV Resort.

Next we're spending the night at a potato farm in southern Oregon.