Every person in America needs to see this video:

Motorcycles at midnight!

It was inevitable. After all it is late September. 

We went to bed last night after watching the Oregon Ducks defeat the Arizona Wildcats, 56-31.  As we nestled into Sadie's queen memory foam bed, ready for a good night's rest, we heard motorcycles roaring about the park.

At first I thought, "Well, somebody is coming home from an outing; they'll quit pretty soon."  But the racket continued.  Soon, we noticed that Sadie was doing a bit of a dance.  That's when we realized that what we thought were motorcycles was actually the sound of the wind howling over, under, and around Sadie's superstructure and the luggage rack and AC units on her roof. 

It had been windy in the evening, but it seemed to increase at bedtime. I actually slept pretty well, and when I awoke, I discovered that the rain had begun coming down pretty heavily.  When I got up, I checked the weather report and discovered that the winds had been 20-30 mph, with gusts to 45!  Thunderstorms are predicted this morning, and then the weather is expected to moderate, although rain is in the forecast for the next couple of days. 

As Jill pointed out, we have been incredibly blessed with good weather on this trip.  No rain dampened our spirits or our activities until now, and tomorrow we will be headed for home.  We thank the Lord for a safe, exciting, fun trip and excellent weather.

Hmmm... where are the map and the calendar?  When and where will we go next in our Travels with Sadie?

Destination: Yaquina Bay!

Click on the photo for a slide show.

Another travel day today, if you can call it that.  We moved a huge 47 miles, from Florence to Newport.  Oh, the agony.  Actually, our biggest concern on the trip was that we would arrive in Newport too early to check in to our RV park space.  We arrived at 12:08, just 8 minutes after check out time. In any case, we were checked in and found our space without difficulty.  I'm glad I made a reservation.  Newport is a zoo this weekend.  It is the last weekend before the state colleges start classes, and it is warm and sunny, so the people with kids in school are getting in one last trip to the beach. 

We drove to the bayside attractions and found that there was so much traffic that we couldn't find a parking space, and all the attractions were overrun with people. Hence, we opted for plan "B" and headed for Waldport.  On our way to Newport, we had passed through Waldport and decided it would be a destination for a visit during our stay in Newport.  It is a cute town.  When we got there, we discovered that the architecture is better than the businesses that line Hwy 101.  There were not enough "tourist" businesses to satisfy us, although we did find a second hand store that had an amazing collection of eclectic junk.  We came away with a DVD for me and some piano sheet music for Jill. 

On the way to Waldport, we stopped to look at some chainsaw carvings of bears.  There were a lot of cute ones to choose from, but we agreed that none of them was worthy of laying down our hard-earned cash. We have been thinking that a chainsaw bear would be a great addition to our backyard, by the waterfall.  On the other hand, we are not ready to settle for just anything.  

After we returned to Newport, we were feeling kind of hungry, so we went to a local eatery that is near our park.  We had a snack, because we had been planning to have the remainder of our Ahi tuna for dinner. Yes, we had a reprise of last night's dinner this evening.  But hey, if it's good it's good...know what I mean? And for dessert? Jill reprised her huckleberry crisp with the berries she picked yesterday evening and this morning before we departed Florence.  (I'm told we have enough more berries for huckleberry pancakes in the morning!! :-)

Jill had a hard time getting good pictures from the coach along the way today.  The road was narrow and winding, and the scenery was all on the left side of the coach.  Nevertheless, I think you will agree that the photos in the slide show are quite good.  I like the one that captures the driver...er, I mean the scenery on the far side of the driver.  

Alas, this is our last stop on this trip.  We will spend tomorrow exploring Newport (with luck, the weekend tourists will be leaving early!).  In particular, we hope to have some of the famed smoked salmon chowder at the Stephanie cafe.  Come back, and I will give you a report on that evolution!

Huckleberries and history

Click on photo for slide show.

Today we explored Florence a little. The Old Town area is charming, as you can see from some of the photos in the slide show.  The building above houses a couple of the local tourist-oriented businesses. It is one of many in the renovated harbor area..  You will also notice in the photos that there is a large river running alongside of Florence.  It is the Siuslaw.  It forms rather a large inlet  just on the western border of the city.  To the west of the river/inlet are some huge sand dunes.  

View Larger Map

While we were in Old Town, we bought another gift for yet another nameless individual.  Our breakfast began to wear off, so we stopped at the local coffee roasters for a small quiche, which we shared (Oh, wait! I'm a real man, so I didn't eat any.) and a couple of coffee drinks.  It was all quite delightful.

Having used up our tourist shopping energy, we headed back to Sadie.  Along the way, we stopped at the Krab Kettle, which is a small fish market right on Hwy 101.  We purchased some Ahi tuna for dinner and some teriyaki smoked tuna for a snack. Next we stopped at Grocery Outlet for a few veggies and fruits, and then we headed homeward.

Before we got home, however, I spied a sign for the Harbor Vista (Lane) County Park, which I had explored online some months ago.  I decided we needed to see what it looks like in person.  It is now on our list of must visit RV Parks.  Winding through the adjacent roads we came upon a State Park which fronts on the ocean...never did find out the name of it.

At last we were home. Pogo was glad to have a stretch of the legs and a drink of water.  We relaxed for a bit, and then Jill decided she needed some more huckleberries.  After she was done picking, we decided to visit a nursery we had seen that advertised native plants.  It had occurred to us that we could plant some huckleberries at home for future gleaning! We were in luck and found a couple of bushes for sale at a reasonable price.  We know just where we will plant them, when we get home.

Meanwhile, back at the RV park, we decided to take Pogo for a romp on the beach.  The weather had turned sunny, and we were anxious to see what Heceta Beach looks like, since it had been so foggy yesterday.  As you will remember from the slide show above, we were surprised to find the beach quite more densely fogged in than yesterday.  It was amazing.  When we returned to the road, the sunshine reappeared.  At any rate, Pogo got a good run, and we returned to the coach in time for Jill to pick a few more huckleberries.  Give her a berry bush with ripe fruit, and she is unstoppable.

This evening, we are planning to have grilled Ahi and grilled vegetables along with some brown rice for our evening repast. Of course, dessert will be left over huckleberry crisp...Oh how we do suffer. 

Fog and huckleberries

 

 A little fog never hurt anyone!  We had a lovely walk on the beach in the afternoon fog of Florence, OR.

As I mentioned in my last post, we have arrived at the Heceta Beach RV Park in Florence, OR.  It is a real delight.   I chose this park from the description on the park website and after consulting RV Park Reveiws dot com.  I chose it because it got acceptable reviews, and it is the closest to the beach of all the RV parks in Florence. 

To  my delight, it is a real treasure. The folks are friendly, the sites are reasonably level, even if they are gravel covered.  There is enough privacy provided by plant life, but not so much that we couldn't connect with the satellite dish. 

The bonus is that the plant life between the camp sites includes mountain huckleberry plants.  We were able to pick enough berries for a huckleberry crisp, which Jill made for our dessert.  With a little vanilla ice cream on top, obtained at the onsite mini-mart, it is to die for.  Of course, no dessert is complete without dinner.  Ours consisted of vegetables marinated in Italian dressing and cooked on the grill, and boneless, skinless chicken breasts grilled with a mesquite rub and Italian dressing marinade. I have never had a better meal in any restaurant.

Another bonus is that this park is only about three blocks from the beach.  We took Pogo for a romp on the beach and found that there was one other couple on the beach on Thursday afternoon.  In the semi foggy state of the afternoon, it appeared that the beach went on for miles in either direction.  What fun we had. Tomorrow, we will explore Florence. In the meantime, we are thoroughly enjoying our little piece of paradise on Heceta Beach Road.

At long last...wi-fi...

Click the photo for a slide show. 

I have missed a couple of days of blogging due to unacceptable wi-fi connections in the last couple of parks we visited.  Now we have a great connection, so I will attempt to catch up.  

We spent the last two days and nights in Bandon-by-the-Sea, OR, commonly known as Bandon.  Originally the town was named Averill, after one of its leading families, but later an Irishman, whose name I can't remember (after all it has been a couple of days!), renamed the town after his hometown in County Cork, Ireland. 

The history of Bandon is well documented in the local historical museum, which we visited. That was, perhaps, the best $2 we spent on the trip!  Bandon has been around since the 1880s.  It has been home to such diverse industries as fishing, dairy farming, cheese manufacturing, coal mining, logging, lumber milling and others that I am sure I missed.  

The town was wiped out by fire on two occasions; once in 1914 (a kitchen fire gone wild) and again in 1936 (forest fire that could not be contained). Logically, it now has one of the biggest fire stations I have ever seen.  The Old Town section of the city is lots of fun with many shops and eateries.  We shopped there, but were able to resist the temptation to come home with typical tourist stuff.  We did make one purchase of a gift for a person who shall remain nameless in this blog.  

We stayed at the Beach Loop Village, which is an RV park with several park model trailers that are rental cottages.  They are also for sale for around $110,000.  The park is not remarkable, except for its quiet nature, friendly staff and the sound of the ocean surf coming through the trees. 

The highlight of the stay in Bandon was, of course, the food.  We had clam chowder for dinner on our first night and then went back to the waterfront yesterday for what we agreed was the best fish and chips meal we've ever had.  

There are numerous parks to explore in and around Bandon.  The ones we visited were Face Rock State Wayside, which has beautiful 180 views of the rocky coast line; The Devil's Kitchen State Park, which has access to the beautiful rock-studded, sandy beach south of town; Bullard's Beach State Park, which has a large campground, boat launch in the Coquille River; and is home to the Coquille River Lighthouse, the newest of the remaining lighthouses on the Oregon coast, dating to 1896.  

We were  a little sad to leave Bandon this morning, but we had a lovely drive through Coos Bay, North Bend, Reedsport and ended up in Florence at the Heceta Beach RV Park.  The Park is lovely (pictures to come) with lots of native plants dividing the spaces.  Jill has been out picking huckleberries from the bushes between our site and the next one!  Mmmmm... huckleberry pie...mmmmm!

So, stay in touch, there will be more stuff to come.

They'd be wearin' their baggies; huarachi sandals, too...

This guy put on our afternoon floor show.

We have been having a great time today in Brookings.  This morning we exercised Pogo on the beach.  We walked as far south as we could, and Pogo did her usual running lickety split up and down the beach. She is a different dog on the beach.

We met two couples during our walk.  The first couple is visiting their daughter in Grants Pass.  They are from Illinois, and they told the daughter, "We are this close; we're going to the ocean.  Meet us there." She is expected to arrive later today.  The other couple is from Shady Cove, Oregon.  We stopped there yesterday for gas.  It is a beautiful area along the Rogue River.  We felt pretty proud that we could tell them we know where Shady Cove is.



We visited the harbor area, which has a lot of places to eat and gift shops.  We did buy one gift, but I'm not going to tell you for whom!  We didn't have anything to eat, because we were too full from the breakfast of cheesy mushroom eggs, cinnamon rolls and fruit that my lovely bride presented to me this morning.

After exploring the harbor area, we took a drive "uptown," which amounts to a few blocks on Hwy 101.  Then we decided to do one of our favorite things in a strange town: exploring the residential areas.  We discovered some really nice areas of beautiful homes.

When we came back from our drive, a surfer boy was busily trying to catch a wave and be sittin' on top of the world.  So, I made a bowl of popcorn and we sat down on our patio to watch. This guy put on a floor show for us for a couple of hours this afternoon.  I felt sorry for him because the beach is so steep here that as soon as the waves stand up enough for surfing to be possible, they break.  He did get a few rides that, perhaps, made all of his efforts worthwhile.

I could grow to like this life!

Over the river and through the woods...

Click photo for slide show. (I just love that '66 Chevy PU.)

Today was another travel day, and travel we did.  This was our longest trek of this trip, but it was a relatively easy day, and the outcome was pretty wonderful.  As you will see in the slide show, we traversed some amazing territory.  

Leaving Prospect, and the Cascade forest, we dropped down into the Rogue River valley at Gold Hill.  Jill got some great pictures along the way.  From Gold Hill, we made our way to Grants Pass on the only 15 miles of interstate highway we have traveled on this trip.  At Grants Pass (or as I like to call it, Grass Pants), we exited the freeway onto U.S. 199, also known as the Redwood Highway.  The scenery was breathtaking, and some of the driving left me a little breathless, too!  

The highway is mainly two-lane, and it winds through the coast range and eventually through the California redwoods.  I had driven this stretch before in a car, going in the opposite direction, and I remember thinking, "This would be pretty exciting in Sadie."  Well, I wasn't wrong.  

Jill got some photos of the redwoods from our moving platform.  Considering the circumstances, I would say they are quite remarkable. 

We arrived at the Beachfront RV park just after 2:00PM and checked into space #82.  The park itself is kind of like a parking lot, but the view makes up for the lack of ambiance in the RV spaces.  As we look out our front window (actually 180 degrees) we can see the ocean.  The beach access is just across a driveway from our space.  It is pretty wonderful to be here.  

So, those of you who have never explored this part of the world, we can heartily recommend to you not only Brookings, but the Redwood Highway and the Beachfront RV Park as well. 

Happy trails, and stay tuned to most of these same stations.

The Rogue, a river with a well-deserved reputation...

Click on photo for slide show.

Today is Saturday.  We had a pretty laid back day.  It was a bit colder last night, and we woke up early because of it.  I threw the electric blanket over the bed and started the furnace; Jill went back to sleep.  I was pretty awake, so I got up and switched on the coffee.  

After a bit more snoozing, Jill got up and made some outstanding bacon pancakes and fried eggs. We debated about what to do today and finally decided to do laundry.  There is a nice little laundromat in Prospect, which we had all to ourselves.  For $2.50 we have clean clothes!  

When we got back to Sadie, it was about lunch time, so we had some tacquitos for lunch, and then we decided to make a trek to visit Mill Creek falls and Barr Creek falls, which are just a couple of miles from our park.  This was, perhaps, the most exciting thing we have seen on this vacation.  The falls are both breathtaking, falling off the cliffs to the south into the Rogue River. I took a couple of movies with our new camera, but my internet connection is too slow to upload them.  There are a few shots of the river and Barr Creek falls in the slide show above.  I only got a movie of Mill Creek falls. Perhaps, I will upload it later, when our wi-fi connection is faster.

Hiking to the falls was fun, and Pogo got her exercise for the day.  It is comical to watch her, when we are hiking.  She tugs at the leash, until we release her from it.  Then she heels as if she had been seeing a dog trainer all her life.  She loves the security of the leash, and when she is off leash she wants to make sure WE  are not going to run away! 

After our hike, Pogo had a long drink of water.  Then we drove along the highway that is the main street of Prospect and then turns into a country road. The scenery was spectacular, as it has been on this whole trip. 

We returned to Sadie in time to see Nebraska polish off Washington (boo hoo...how my heart bleeds for Washington). So, try as I might, I cannot find anything to complain about today...except maybe that we have to move on tomorrow...to our reserved ocean front RV space in Brookings.  Life is hard sometimes.

Crater Lake and huckleberry pie

Click photo for slide show

As promised, we made a trek to Crater Lake today.  The entrance to the National Park is about 34 miles from our RV Park.  After a fuel stop in Prospect, we drove Daisy Mae to the lake.  Par for the course, I left my lifetime senior free pass to all national parks on my dresser in Dallas.  Oh, well! 

The lake roads are all open this time of year, but the area averages about 500 inches of snow every winter, and we did see patches of snow along the side of the road.  We had a wonderful time stopping at the viewpoints.  You will notice that there are not a lot of pictures of the lake itself.  It is tempting to take multiple pictures at every viewpoint, but once you realize that there is no way to actually capture the incredible, deep blue color of the water, it seems pointless to take more photos. Suffice to say, the lake is breathtaking.

What I did take pictures of were flora and fauna. Some examples are below:

Click photo for slide show

I am especially proud to have captured a photo of the rare and beautiful black-hooded chickadee, the last shot in the photo series. 

After we had circumnavigated the lake, we stopped at the inevitable gift shop.  The shop may have been inevitable, but the buying was not.  All of the merchandise looked like the same stuff we have seen in other national parks, only the names were changed to protect the innocent!

From the gift shop, we drove a short distance to Crater Lake Lodge.  The lodge is large and appears to have been updated recently. We were not able to see any of the rooms, but the slide show below will give you a feeling for the flavor of the lodge:

Click the photo for slide show.

On the drive back to the RV park, we stopped in Union Creek at Beckie's, famous for pies.  Jill has been having a hankering for huckleberry pie. (I, of course, was completely neutral on the subject!)  Again, we were not disappointed.  The pie was delicious, the crust was flaky and the ice cream was the perfect accompaniment.  A stop across the highway at the little resort store for salt, however, proved fruitless. 

As we continued on our way, we came across a sign to the Rogue River Natural Bridge.  This rock formation is the result of volcanic eruption creating lava tubes.  The river then routed itself through one of them. The river travels underground in a lava tube for about 200 feet.  Thus, the top of the lava tube became a natural bridge. Although it is difficult to do justice to flowing (nay, gushing) water in photos, I have included a few below.  The series is set up so that each picture is a little further downstream from the previous one. 

Click photo for slide show. 

In the series above you see the water gushing into the lava tube. Next is a shot of the top of the natural bridge, followed by the water gushing out of the tube at 335,000 gallons per minute.  The next photo shows a cave, which is apparently a lava tube with a blind end. And finally there is the tailrace of the whole lava tube/natural bridge/river phenomenon.  God sure must have had fun putting all of this stuff together. 

We returned to Sadie tired but delighted with all that we saw today.  Stay tuned for more.

From pine to fir and back again...

Click photo for a slide show

Wednesday was a travel day.  We packed up and hit the road, heading south from Sisters.  Just south of Bend, OR, we stopped at the High Desert Museum. What a treat.  The museum is privately maintained and is a treasure trove of facts and artifacts of the high desert area, including eastern Oregon, parts of Nevada and Arizona.   

I was not able to get too many pictures, because most of the indoor exhibits are priceless old documents and artifacts kept in low light, and flash photography is prohibited.  Outdoors, our timing was bad for seeing the critters. The otters were asleep and other critters in hiding.  Nevertheless, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and would recommend this stop to anyone traveling in central Oregon. 

When we had sated our curiosity at the museum, we hit the road and headed south to LaPine State Park.  It is a lovely park situated on the Deschutes river in the midst of a pine forest.  In Sisters we encountered mostly Ponderosa pine, but the pines in the SP are a different variety, possibly lodgepole or sugar pine.  The river is beautiful, as you will see in the photos.  Our campsite was situated about 50 yards from the river, although the forest blocked the view of the river. 

While we were strolling about the park, we encountered a couple who had just come from Crater Lake.  They encouraged us to hurry there, so as to arrive before it is closed for the winter.  They recommended a campground near the lake, but it sounded like it was too small for Sadie and basically amounted to a dry-camp area. 

Later we spoke with our next door neighbor, who recommended the Crater Lake RV Park, situated on Hwy 62 between Crater Lake and Bend.  We opted for this park, because it sounded like a better fit.  We have not been disappointed.  We left LaPine SP yesterday morning and checked in at Crater Lake RV Park in the early afternoon.

Click photo for a slide show

The camp hosts, Dennis and Judy, are delightful people who made us feel welcome immediately.  There is lots of hiking to do, and the park is clean and well-cared-for.  It is nestled in the woods; many varieties of fir and pine trees. We hiked one of the trails yesterday afternoon and discovered a reservoir created on the Rogue river by a small hydroelectric dam.  The area around the river apparently suffered a forest fire some time back, but is covered with new growth, especially Ponderosa pines.  In the slide show, you will see Jill standing by our next Christmas tree! 

Today, we plan to drive back up to Crater Lake National Park, which neither of us has seen in decades.  It promises to be a fun day.  We are paid up for three nights in the RV park, so there will be more adventures to come.

Smoke and Sisters

 

We left Dallas on Monday afternoon. Initially, I had planned to be on the road by noon, but as we were hooking up Daisy Mae behind Sadie, we encountered a problem with the new towed-vehicle brake monitoring system. After some troubleshooting, I determined that the problem was in the cable that connects the towed-vehicle wiring to the the coach wiring. It seems that one of the plugs on the cable was installed incorrectly and reversed the polarity between the two vehicles. Once I changed the wiring of the plug, the brake monitor light on Sadie's dashboard started working just as it should. I must say it is a comfort to know what Daisy Mae's brake system is doing, while I am towing her.

The other fly in the getting-off-by-noon ointment was that our neighbor, kitty-corner across the street from our home, came by to introduce himself. He is a pleasant chap and chatty. Did I mention that John likes to talk? We had not had the chance to meet him before, and by the time we were done chatting and got the brake monitor wiring figured out, it was closer to 2:00 PM when we hit the road.

There was a good deal of smoke from forest fires in the air as we crossed the cascade mountains on highway 22. Otherwise the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. (I suppose you could say that even the smoke was “breathtaking,” but that is a different story.) Sadie found some of the steeper climbs a bit challenging in terms of keeping her speed up, but overall, she did just fine. It was a hot day, and I kept my eye on the water and oil temps, but we had no mishaps, and when we crested the pass and started down the other side, the temps dropped right back down to normal.

We arrived in Sisters, OR (named for the nearby Cascade Mountain peaks, Faith, Hope and Charity, which together are known as the Three Sisters) about 4:45PM. Since we hadn't made any plans to stay in any particular RV park, we were a bit nervous when we didn't find many RV parks to choose from. We made a fuel stop and inquired about parks and were directed to the Sisters RV Park and/or the KOA “on the other end of town.”

Before we encountered either of them, however, we stumbled on Sisters City Park, which is not only beautiful, but located within walking distance of the charming commercial district. It is a first come, first served park, with full RV hookups, nestled in a grove of pine trees. Nevertheless, we found a site where we could get a clear shot at the southern sky for our satellite dish. We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

Last evening, we had dinner at the Three Creeks Brewing Company pub, located on the southeast end of town. The atmosphere is family friendly, the food was spectacular pub food, and the ales, which are brewed on the premises, were quite competitive with the better microbrews we have encountered.

Tuesday morning, we had walked the commercial section of town in the morning and found it to be lots of fun. The people are friendly, and the architecture is all done in a fun “old west” theme. Having scoped out the shops yesterday, we had a plan for this morning. We walked into town and made a stop at the Sisters Bakery (not to be missed; get there early for bear claws, which are to die for) and then on to the Sisters Coffee shop. We sat under the pines on the patio to the side of the shop, sipping the hearty brew and munching our bear claw, maple bar and peach scone. All in all a very enjoyable, if not the most healthful, breakfast.

The weather is cooling off. It was near 90 yesterday, but it's only supposed to be near 80 today. We will bid a reluctant farewell to Sisters, but we will be back to visit, without a doubt. Our objective for today is La Pine State Park.

Gearing up...

Hooray! We are planning a getaway in Sadie!  It has been a long summer filled with landscaping and waiting for our granddaughter, Ryanne, to be born.  Now those exciting developments are behind us, and we have an opportunity to hit the road.


Of course, when we hit the road, we have to make sure Sadie is in tip-top condition.   There are a couple of  things that have been on my mind for a while.  Sadie has had a couple of very minor oil leaks that stained the floor of her garage.  I determined that one of them was coming from one of the hoses that go to the oil cooler. The other is a bit enigmatic.  There has been a little oil dripping off of the drain plug for the oil pan.  The confusing thing has been that there is oil in the surrounding area as well.

Today, I decided to change the oil and inspect these problems.  I started by draining the oil and removing the oil filter.  Removing the drain plug revealed that the gasket under the plug was disintegrating.  I made a trip to the auto parts store for oil, filter and a new drain plug gasket.  Having installed the plug with its new gasket and a new filter, I moved on to the leaky hose.

To my delight, I was able easily to remove the leaky oil cooler hose. I had spoken with a counter man at NAPA, who told me that the best way to fix such a hose (rubber hose with steel pipes swaged onto each end) was to remove the rubber hose and replace it with a new hose with hose clamps.  When I took it to NAPA today, the same guy said that they could actually put some fittings onto the steel pipes and swage the rubber hose onto them. I left the pipe with them. It should be ready for installation tomorrow morning.

When I returned home from NAPA, I decided to install the long-overdue dash monitor for the brakes on the towed vehicle.  I have had the parts, but not the gumption to install them.  Since I had already been under Sadie on the creeper for quite a bit of the day, I decided to string the cable from the rear bumper to Sadie's dashboard.  There was a small, red LED on the dash that I have wondered about for some time. When I inspected it today, I found that it was not hooked up to anything!  That was perfect.  I needed to put an LED on the dash to light when the toad brakes are applied by the surge brake system. The LED was already there; I just needed to hook it up!

After stringing the cable and hooking up the LED on Sadie, I proceeded to check out the part of the installation that involves the towed (Daisy Mae).  I discovered that there are two switches that are activated by the brake pedal.  I don't know yet what they do, but they are readily accessible. I just need to determine 1) which switch to tap into and 2) which wire on that switch to tap.  The rest of the project will be simply a matter of stringing the wire...about 5 feet, versus about 35 feet on Sadie.  I will tackle that tomorrow.

The next project will be to move the satellite dish so that it can stand up without fouling on the AC housing.  When I originally installed the dish, I measured the appropriate distance from the base of the AC on the roof.  I didn't notice that the housing extends a bit beyond the base.  Now when I try to erect the dish, it hangs up on the front of the AC unit and stalls the motor.  It requires my climbing on the roof every time I want to set it up. So, it must be moved.  I will tackle that before our trip, so we can enjoy TV if we want to .


In the meantime, Jill has been loading our essentials aboard Sadie: food, clothing and various supplies. I think we will be ready for a great trip, come Monday. Stand by for more Travels with Sadie.

Of goats and toads

It is good to be out and about in Sadie again. We decided that, since it has been three months since our last outing, it is about time.

After a good deal of agonizing over where to go, we settled on the Devil's Lake RV Park in Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast. The reasons we chose this park are the following: 1) it is not a long drive, 2) we have not been to this park before, 3) we like Lincoln City for its many shops and nice beaches.

The caper began last week. I was grateful to be able just to go out in the garage and get to work on Sadie. After checking all of her mechanicals, I rolled her out on the driveway and gave her a bath. That led me to do some further cleaning and polishing. Sadie looked about as good as she ever has under the current management, when I was done.

Saturday was given over to cleaning up the interior and packing the necessaries for the trip. For reasons that neither Jill nor I can now remember, we pretty much took out of Sadie everything that we usually carry aboard, when we moved into the new house. So, we had not only to load everything, but also to remember what we needed.

This morning, we put a few last minute items aboard, hitched up Daisy Mae behind and departed for the coast. We had some light rain along our route, which of course, completely negated the exterior cleaning I had done. Nevertheless, Sadie purred along as if she was happy to be on the road again.

We arrived at the Devil's Lake RV Park and checked in. After reading RV Park Reviews' website, we weren't sure what to expect. To our delight, the park is quite lovely. The spaces are paved and reasonably level, although I did have to get out the leveling blocks to keep the left front wheel in contact with terra firma. The utilities are all functional and the wi-fi service is among the best we have encountered.

While I was hooking Sadie up to the utilities, a beautiful big Tiffin Phaeton coach stopped in the road behind our space. The husband and wife were fussing with their tow bar, and Jill overheard them saying something about needing a hammer. I offered to look and see if I had one aboard (which, of course, I didn't). Then, I looked at the problem they were having. One leg of their towbar had not extended when they started to move the coach. That meant that towing their Jeep was not going to work too well.

After sizing up the situation, I recommended that Harold (the husband) drive the coach down the slight incline behind us and make a right turn, which would extend the left arm of the tow bar to full length. He did so, and everything worked as expected. Harold thanked me profusely and said, "I'd buy you a beer, but I am going home." I told him, "What are RVers for, if not to help each other in a jam?"

After Mr. and Mrs. Harold were on their way, I finished hooking Sadie up to the utilities. Next came lunch with Perry (Mason). Then we had a short walk, loaded Pogo into Daisy Mae and went for a drive. We saw things we haven't seen before.

At one intersection we saw a sign advertising the Barking Dog Farm organic veggies. We decided to see what we could find out and headed up a road that follows the Siletz river. We never did find the farm, but we found a couple of RV parks. Both are right on the river, but one looked pretty nice and the other looked kind of crummy. The crummy one charges $40 a night for a waterfront site, with water and electricity, but no sewer or wi-fi. Cable TV is an additional $2 per night. Yikes! I think we will stay right where we are, for $27/night!

We took a drive through that spendy park and the best thing we saw was a pair of goats munching on the grass.

On the way back, we stopped at the popular Tanger Outlet Mall in Lincoln City. We looked at a lot of stuff, and Jill purchased a small plastic container in which to keep treats for Pogo in our end table at home. Otherwise, we weren't even tempted.

Incidentally, I forgot to mention that we have had blue skies and sunshine ever since we arrived here this morning. So far, it has been a marvelously enjoyable trip. Tomorrow, we will do some more exploring. I hope the weather holds, so we can take a walk on the beach. But if it doesn't, we will find some other way to enjoy ourselves!

Stay tuned for more travels with Sadie.

All good things must end

This post is a day late, because yesterday was our travel day. We left Cape Kiwanda RV Park about 11:45 AM and headed for Dallas. The weather was spectacular. We had a nice walk on the beach before we had to pack up and go.



Pogo was not as friskie yesterday as she had been. We think the poor old girl is not a puppy anymore and was sore from her previous days' exploits, i.e., running like a maniac on the beach. The weather was the best yesterday of all the days we were at Pacific City, but then that was both predicted and predictable, since it was the day we had to leave!

After our beach walk, we climbed over the dune that separates beach and town, and I had to make a panoramic video:



We packed up Sadie and hit the road. The drive through the Coast Range mountains was beautiful. It is difficult to capture the beauty of God's creation on film under the best of circumstances, but doing it from a traveling motor home is really a challenge. Jill rose to the occasion with the photos at the end of the slide show below, which is a recap of our entire three day adventure. (Click the photo for a slide show)


As we were enjoying the drive homeward, there was one primary question on our minds: When can we come back to this wonderful place?

What a difference a day made...

Today was the perfect storm of weather, attitude, location, company, and opportunities. We started the day with a walk on the beach. It was sooooo different from yesterday's walk on the beach. The sun was out; the wind had died to virtually nothing; the tide was up. Pogo was lovin' it. She is, as Jill says, a completely different dog on the beach.



I couldn't resist a few arty shots of the surf and Haystack Rock. I never knew that this Haystack Rock existed, until this trip. Let me modify that; I knew it existed, but I didn't know it was called Haystack Rock. I grew up going to the beach at Cannon Beach, a few miles north of here. There is where Haystack Rock lives...or so I have always believed.


Jill, unfortunately, had other ideas about photographing Haystack Rock. No accounting for taste:


On the way back up to town, we encountered this guy: a California gull, lounging on one leg in the edge of the surf.

We passed him by and headed back up to the village of Pacific City, where we took a walking tour of some of the residential area. There are some really nice homes right on the waterfront, and others that are a block or two away from the water. Many of theses homes appear to be pretty new, so I conclude this is a thriving vacation community.

Pogo began to lag behind, so we decided it was time to take her home. We put her in the motor home, and then Jill and I went to the Pelican Brew Pub, which is just across the street from our RV park. We had a lovely lunch with a view of the water. The clam chowder was spectacular. I think they may have slipped some cheese in there with the clams and potatoes. We'll be back.

After lunch we returned to the coach with resting on our minds. Pogo and I got the best spot:
I promptly drifted off and didn't reawaken until a little after 5:00 pm. Jill had put on her swimsuit, so I jumped up and changed, too. We got to the pool in time to have a nice swim and relax in the hot tub. We were pleasantly pooped when we returned to Sadie. Leftover pizza from Doryland Pizza (where we ate last night) was our dinner. We are now happily relaxing after an amazing day.

Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night nor GALE FORCE WINDS!!

Today was a day of exploring and relaxing. Above is a photo of Sadie in her "berth" at the Cape Kiwanda RV Resort. This is a nice park with a combination of transient and resident occupants. It is very nicely maintained and quite comfortable. There is a store with gifts, groceries and RV supplies, and an indoor pool/hot tub area, which we have not yet enjoyed.

After breakfast, Pogo needed a little walk, so we took her on a tour of the park. That was not, however, adequate exercise to exhaust either her energy or our enthusiasm. So, we ventured out onto the beach. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the camera, but it was so windy that we may not have been able to get any decent photos anyway. At least that's what I thought, until this afternoon, when we ventured out in similar wind to relieve Pogo's biological needs and got this picture:
And this one:
And here's a shot looking out from the RV park entrance down the street to the beach:

The building on the far right is the Pelican Brew Pub,
where we may have dinner this evening.

Saving the best for last is always fun. So, in that spirit, here is my favorite traveling companion:

Edit: Jill read this post and when she finished she looked out the window, and saw this:

Pacific City, here we come!

Worship service was wonderful this morning, and my Sunday school class lesson went very well. When it was over, we went home, had lunch and loaded last minute items into Sadie.

We left home about 1:20 and headed out to highway 22. The weather was very cooperative. There was actually enough sunshine, when we left home, that we had to use our sunglasses. It was good to be on the road again. Jill was johnny-on-the-spot with the camera as we drove across the Willamette valley and into the coast range west of Dallas.

The sun lit up a hillside farm.

We have driven this route before, but it thrills us every time. There is so much to see.

Although it has been in decline for decades,
Oregon still has a forest products industry.

In winter, farmers plant their fields to reduce
erosion. I'm not sure what is planted in these fields.

We continued on past the valley and up into the Oregon Coast Range. I guess we were too entranced by the beauty of the rain forest to remember to take photos. The road is narrow and winds through the hills. Driving this stretch with and 8 foot wide vehicle requires a good deal of concentration. As we crested the summit of the pass, we began to encounter some mist, which became heavier, the closer we got to the coast.

At last, we arrived in Pacific City at the Cape Kiwanda RV Resort. We were assigned to space A22, and within minutes we were parked, leveled, hooked up, and had cable TV and wi-fi internet; all in time for the Super Bowl kick off. Jill made popcorn, and we settled in for the game. We both kept remarking how much fun it is to be back aboard Sadie, with some new scenery to enjoy.

While I was checking in with the park, Jill wandered over to the store area and purchased a fresh Dungeness crab for our dinner. Can you say, "Decadence?" Stay tuned. Tomorrow, we will explore the town and, we hope, the beach...weather permitting. Yet to come is using the hot tub, dining at the Doryland Pizza Parlor and the Pelican Brew Pub.

First RV trip of 2011

At long last, having moved into our new home on October 30, 2010, we are going on our first RV outing since the move. It's true we took Sadie out for a drive the other day, but that was just to exercise the engine and the generator. This time we are going to go to a destination and spend a few days.

Our destination is Cape Kiwanda RV Resort in Pacific City, OR, a whopping 45 miles from home! One thing I love about RVing is that you don't have to go far to have a fun adventure. We used to go 8 miles to Barton County Park, when we lived in Clackamas, and had some of our most memorable trips.

Yesterday and today have been given over to preparing Sadie for her outing. I am ashamed to say that amid all the details of moving into our home, I had not even washed her until yesterday. I might not even have done that, except that I got on a ladder the night before to change a light bulb in one of the marker lights. While I was up there, I could see that the roof was almost black with the "stuff" that had dropped from the oak trees under which we were parked all summer, while we were building the house. Do you have any idea how dirty oak trees are? Yuck.

After giving Sadie a well-deserved bath, I got busy repairing the damage I did to the garage door, getting her out. It seems the pull cord on the garage door opener latch snagged on the satellite dish on top of Sadie. That released the latch, and the door dropped down a couple of feet. I couldn't see that it had dropped, because it was still above the windshield. As I moved the coach forward, I heard a crunch. The good news is that, no matter how I abuse her from time to time, Sadie never lets me down. There was no damage to the coach, but the garage door panel bent just enough to pull the guide wheel out of the track. I had to straighten the panel and re-engage the wheel into the track.

Today, I checked the fluids, aired up the tires and airbags, and made sure the furnace and water heater are working. Finally, we began loading clothing, food and sundry gear aboard. We should be ready for departure shortly after church tomorrow. Can't wait to go!

Getting excited for the 2011 camping season

Early today, the sun was out, so I decided it was time to take Sadie out for some exercise. She fired right up; although, I am embarrassed to say, it has been since October 23rd that her engine last ran. There has just been so much to do, getting into our new home, that Sadie has been a bit neglected. She sits, cozy, in her garage; no need for winterizing, because the garage is insulated.

Part of my motivation was that we received a ten cents a gallon discount coupon for gas at Safeway. With Gas currently at $3.119 per gallon, ten cents off seemed like a good time to fill up. We disconnected Sadie's various umbilici, gingerly drove her out of the garage and down the hill to fill up. It turns out the discount is only good for the first 30 gallons, which means we saved $3.00; not a fortune, but enough for a caramel machiato, one of these days.

The gas station attendants were very kind and washed Sadie's dirty windshield while we were there. When we were finished (40.7 gallons later), we headed for the countryside to give the old girl some exercise. We had a lovely drive out to Perrydale, a little farming community a bit north of Dallas. The countryside was gorgeous, Sadie purred, and Jill and I reveled in being on the road. In fact, we determined it is time to plan the first camping trip of 2011.

While we were on the road, I started the Onan generator for a little exercise and ran the electric heater in the coach. It ran like a top...the generator, that is...well, the heater did fine, too. We returned home, parked our venerable lady and went in to have lunch.

That's when the snow began to fall. I felt pretty smug. I got Sadie gassed up at a discount, gave her some exercise, enjoyed a drive in the country with my best girl, and got home before the snow began to fall.

It is odd how a particular day or occurrence affects one's soul. I told Jill after we got home that, somehow, taking Sadie out for a drive made me feel that we are finally settled at home in Dallas. She told me that, whenever she is feeling grumpy or having cravings, all I need to do is take her for a ride in Sadie...or give her some chocolate...or, ahem.