And the winners are

John and Anne Godsman filled in a survey and won a free stay at Winchester Bay RV Resort in Oregon

In the spring of this year, RVwest magazine contacted Anne and John Godsman of Strathmore, Alberta, with the news that they had won a free stay at Winchester Bay RV Resort (Winchester Bay) in Reedsport, Oregon. John has been filling out RVwest reader surveys for the past four years, and this is the fourth time he’s won a prize.

The Scottish couple and their three-year-old son immigrated to Canada in 1967 in pursuit of work, crossing the Atlantic on the last voyage of the legendary Queen Mary. They disembarked in New York harbour and travelled by charter bus to Toronto, then rode the Canadian National Railway to Vancouver. John worked for Canadian Pacific Airlines for a few years and then began a 32-year career as a life insurance agent.

Not your average retirees

Unlike most retirees, the Godsmans do their RVing in the summer. In winter they have another habit: they square dance. As well, Anne teaches clogging and John writes a column for the Strathmore Times and is nearly ready to publish Volume 2 of his collection, Remembering Our Roots.

The couple had travelled down the Oregon Coast way back in the 1980s and visited Portland in 2005 to attend the U.S. national square dance convention. Other than that, for them, Oregon was largely unexplored. On August 6, they hitched their 2007 GMC 2500 HD Duramax diesel to their 2008 Keystone Copper Canyon nine-metre (29-foot) fifth wheel with one slide-out, and hit the road.

Their trip to Oregon included an 11-day stop at the Lolo Square Dance Centre in Lolo, Montana, and four days in the area of Spokane, Washington, visiting friends and doing more square dancing. The round trip entailed about 5,472 kilometres (3,400 miles).

“We don’t really enjoy driving the interstate,” said John. “We’d rather take the secondary highways, so we can get some sense of the surroundings and the communities.”

The Winchester Bay experience

Winchester Bay RV Resort is on an inlet on the coast of Oregon just six kilometres (four miles) from Reedsport. John said that 98 per cent of the people at the resort are there for the crabbing and fishing.

“We didn’t do any actual fishing,” he said, “but we enjoyed seafood for dinner six nights out of the eight we spent there. The fish market nearby has a wonderful selection.”

The Godsmans used Winchester Bay as a base for day trips to Reedsport and Florence and down the coast to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.

“Every morning we’d walk our dog along the sea wall at the resort, and we’d explore the beaches in the area,” said John. “Coming from the east coast of Scotland, we miss the sea. We also spent time in Florence, which has lots of art and artists and crafters. We went to Coos Bay twice, and to Bandon, which is famous for golf courses, cheese and dunes. The resort itself was very pleasant, and we had a nice, relaxing time there on the days we weren’t exploring.”

The weather cooperated, with only two days of rain during the Godsmans’ two-month journey.

“This was a wonderful trip, and we thoroughly enjoyed it,” John said. “We thank RVwest very much for the opportunity to win this free stay at Winchester Bay.”