Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #38 – More Adventures, Heading Home, & More Family Time!

 

Sunday, September 18^th., 2022…… Today we head out again. I say ‘head’ because, well, you’ll see….

The drive today was only 75 miles so we weren’t in a hurry. I think we left somewhere around 10:30am or so. BUT, the drive was going to be the roughest one yet! We would be on hwy1 for 23 miles or so and then hit 101. We had little idea how windy hwy 1 would be. The roads were terrible and rough! At about the halfway point, I heard a noise and then heard Cathye scream out in pain. What had happened?  I looked over and she was holding the DirecTV box over her head!  It had fallen out of the cabinet and was hanging on 2 of the 3 cords attached to it normally. It had hit her right on the noggin!  I could not find anywhere to pull over for a few miles and then I checked her pupils. She said she had a headache but I saw no other signs of any problems. No blood from the contusion (but there was a small bump which she said hurt like hell! Later, when we finally got to Hwy 101, we stopped for a while and I had more time to see if anything changed. She took a few Tylenol and later said she felt better. The bump went down later in the day. We made it into Oregon and pulled in to Indian Creek RV Park in Gold Beach around 12:30 or so. We got set up and she was able to rest for a few hours and said she was feeling better, just a little dizziness. I will be keeping an eye on her! We did decide later to take this picture to show what hit her!

We went out a little later and found a nice pizza parlor and had dinner and a mango cider and a beer. We stopped at Jerry’s and went into their shop, looking for a rain poncho. No dice but they had a fantastic deal on some very nice rain jackets for $35.00. They were too good to pass up so we each bought one! We were ready for tomorrow!  We went home and talked with Teri and Ron, who are camping north of us, and will meet us tomorrow morning at Jerry’s Rogue River Jet Boats. We called it an early night after one of the most stressful days so far!   

Monday, September 19^th., 2022……  We were up and going pretty early. Showers, then walked and fed the dogs, then walked to the restaurant, which is part of the campground, and had breakfast. We headed off to meet up with Ron and Teri and get our boarding pass. We were on the 10:00am trip. I had booked and prepaid for the 64-mile round trip today. The tickets included lunch at Cougar Lane Lodge in Agnes at the turnaround point. Our driver (pilot?, captain?) was John and he was very entertaining. Forecast was for early morning showers and clearing and warmer skies in the afternoon. The weather was kind of gloomy but no rain so far. But the jackets still felt good, especially in the overcast and at speed in the boat. We had a wonderful time and saw a lot of birds and sea lions and otters and racoons. We saw bald eagles and osprey but didn’t get good pics of those.

After a few high speed donuts in the boat, we made the halfway point and headed up to the lodge for lunch. We all four chose the pit bbq, with ribs and pulled pork. Delicious! The run back home was uneventful – except for the best part of the trip – John came up on a charter boat and one of the guys had one. Fish on! He idled at a distance and we all got to watch the guy play and then land a 35-40 lb Chinook salmon!  It was awesome. Next time we come this way….!!!

After we got back to the docks, John said that one of us on his boat will win the requisite picture taken as we left. Well, for some reason, I felt I needed to go check it out. Guess what – yeah, I won! Here’s the pic (or rather a pic of the pic!)…

We got back home and Ron and Teri went home as well and later came back to visit and have charcuterie with us. They brought stuff and we put out our stuff and we nibbled and drank. Later, they left and we cleaned up and relaxed and watched tv after our day. We crashed early. Cathye said she felt fine on the boat and now but she also says she gets dizzy when she stands up too quickly. Still has me worried. Tomorrow, we leave for the last campground before home.

Tuesday, September 20^th., 2022……  HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATHYE!  She is now back to just two years younger than me!  Plans later today but first we are on the road again!

Hwy 101 is nice but still has some repair going on and we hit several of those areas which are governed by red lights to be able to share the one lane road. But no worries and we made the 95-mile drive with no problems and got in to the Osprey Point RV Resort in Lakeside OR and got set up in our space. We have a nice pull through and a clear shot for the satellite dish so we got everything up and going in record time. we will be here for 3 nights.  We are right across from Ten Mile Lake, which is really nice. Her sister, Mary and her new husband Jim are visiting with family and made their way here down the coast from Seattle. They are booked in to a cabin here at our park and will be here tomorrow sometime. The plan is to go out on Thursday on the dunes.  We went to The Mill Casino for dinner and gambling. She loves to gamble so I was happy that we were close to one on her birthday! Didn't win but we each had clam chowder in a bowl which was very good so we considered it a good fun evening out!  

Wednesday, September 21^st., 2022…… We were up and out this morning with the dogs. This park is right on the lake and I enjoyed it the last time I was here. 

We found a couple camping across the road from us who has a 7-month English cream. Her and Rylee got along like sisters and they romped and played for a bit. The guy told me a few things I didn’t know about the lake. He said several years ago, the game wardens checked in on a couple of guys and their catch. When they saw what they had, they said, “No way, there are no bass in this lake!” Turns out someone had released bass and they just took off! He says that now this lake is a tournament bass location. Now I want to come back with my boat and fish here!  We also saw a US Coast Guard training exercise on the lake this morning!  They dropped a 'victim' in the water and then did a rescue of him moments later. It was interesting the first time - but they kept coming back  all morning to repeat!  Guess they had plenty of folks who needed the training! 

We walked the girls around the canal that separates the two lakes in this area and then headed back home to rest. Later, we drove north looking for the ATV rental place she remembered was near 101. Turns out it was closer to Florence (which was 34 miles from us). So, we turned back and found Spinreel Dune Buggy and ATV Rentals and Dune Tours just a few miles south of our campground. They are now in their offseason so they don’t offer ‘follow’ tours right now. We checked our options and chose the 4-seater Rzr Turbo. They had two models and, after a call to Mary and Jim, we opted for the newer, cushier ride model.  I took pics of both. We were in the grey and green one shown in the pics below. We paid a partial payment and had a time for tomorrow! We got back home and had a snack and waited for them to get into their bungalow. We saw their place and they came down to ours and we had a few drinks then went to the campground’s Pub N Pizza for their Hawaiian night. They served chicken kabobs and rice and it was pretty good. They had karaoke which Jim is well versed in. He plays in a band in Arizona so he was up there singing right at the get go. We danced a bit and enjoyed the evening before calling it a night.

Thursday, September 22^nd., 2022…… We made us all breakfast in our place before getting our things together and heading down to the Spinreel. We watched a safety/operation video and then got an on-screen map tour (wish we would have paid more attention – more later!) and got fitted with helmets and signed waivers and did a walk through on the Rzr. We were ready! They said to go to the approach road and enter the dunes. Go straight past dune 1 and hit the tree line and then follow that to the beach.  That’s what we all heard. I was the first driver and they said to take a few dunes and hills and get used to the vehicle first, which I did. Then we looked at the gps on the dash screen and followed it, heading south and west to hit the beach. Nope! Didn’t see it!  Jim’s turn. He ran us around the trails and some dunes and then Cathye got behind the wheel. Still following the screen, we tried – hopelessly – to reach the beach. Still not happening!  Mary opted not to drive so I got back in behind the wheel and managed to get us back to the entry sign where we came in. We still had 30 minutes left on our two hours, so I used it to play around the dunes some more. I headed back and followed the sign back to the rental place. NOPE! Wrong sign!  We were lost!  We called back to the office and they said we were 3 miles south of them!  No way! Yes way! They had us sit for a while and they came out and we did a follow tour back to the right sign back to the rental place. We had visions of getting charged for the extra time but they did an inspection of the vehicle and I did their transmission check and they gave me a thumbs up so we were good to go, with no extra fees.  Yaay!  I got an email later asking to rate their service and operation. They got rave reviews!  Excellent equipment and customer service was outstanding.  The only suggestion I had for them was to print out detailed maps to aid us folks who have a goal to reach a destination when out there! Otherwise it was a perfect outing!  We all had a blast.

When we got back from the ride, we rested just a few minutes, then loaded up the dogs and headed south. We were heading to Shore Acres, a place where both Cathye and Mary have been to many times with their families. We went through North Bend and then Coos Bay and worked our way to the coastal road from there. Shore Acres is a State Park that has a history. Louis Simpson, a timber baron, sold his estate and his land holdings to the state of Oregon back in 1942. The mansion is still there (we didn't tour because we had the dogs) and the views from the cliffs looking out to the ocean are magnificent. I see why she wanted me to see this place!  No dogs were allowed outside of the cars but as you can see from the pics, we figured we'd beg for forgiveness, rather than ask for permission! So, they got their little walk today!

When we got back, we were beat and we each went home to rest for the day. Tomorrow, we head home.        

Friday, September 23^rd., 2022…… We slept in a bit and then got to work. Cathye made breakfast and I went out and loaded the car and put away a few things in the rig. We cleaned up after we ate and then we got everything stowed away and the car hooked up and we headed out. Jim and Mary were on their own schedule. They will be seeing her son Justin and his wife Amy and son Skylar and we would meet up with them later for dinner. We got back home a few minutes after 1:00pm. The contractors hadn’t used the rv garage so I backed the rig in and left it out in front of the garage so we could unload it and wash it, before putting it back in the garage. Washing would be tomorrow. All we wanted to do was get everything out and that would be it for the day. Cathye left for Jamie’s and I worked on unloading the bikes and getting the rack off and put away. Later, I took the car to the car wash so that was done. I also did all of the laundry while she was at Jamie’s. The family was meeting later at Barsidious for dinner. We got there and met up with everyone and we all had a great meal. Turns out Justin now works there! I think he is a cook. The cook working there today made his house stroganoff which was the best I have had in a long time!  Good food, good drinks and good fun! 

Mary and Jim were staying with us so they followed us back home and got settled in their room. Not much more happening tonight as we were all done from the long day!  It was nice to be home and in our own bed again!  The pups were happy too!        

Saturday, September 24^th., 2022…… The plan today was mixed. Mary met up with Justin for breakfast. Cathye went over to meet Mike at Jamie’s. He and a friend were picking up Jamie’s piano which Jamie gave to him since he will have no room for it when he moves out next week. Jim and I went to Kevin’s for breakfast. Justin and Amy and the rest of us all met up later at the house for dinner. Corey and Brandon joined us. Cathye made chicken wings and salad and I went out and got us a watermelon from the truck down here from Hermiston OR (up towards Idaho border where they are famous for watermelon). We had a nice meal and then went out and picked some of our grapes which have finally ripened, for everyone to take home. Jim and Mary are leaving early tomorrow to go up to Seattle to see her daughter Heather and granddaughter Charley, and will stay with them until they leave on Sunday to fly back home to Tucson. We watched tv until bedtime and found we were tired again from another busy day!

Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #37 – More On the Road Adventure!

 

Sunday, September 11^th., 2022…… A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY for me!  73 today. Sure don’t feel it though. Cathye had to go to the campground store to pick up some eggs and bacon. We missed that the other day while at Walmart. We also forgot to pick up a new coffee pot. The glass carafe slipped off the counter the other morning and we spent some time cleaning the floor!  Then we loaded the pups in and took off for the coast. It was only a short drive to Watsonville and from there we went up the coast to Santa Cruz. We did manage to hit all of the Sunday traffic as folks were heading over to the Boardwalk amusement park and the beach for the day. But it was no problem. We also hit some of the places where Cathye lived. The actual houses are no longer there but she showed me the area and I think she went back in time to revisit her days with her 7 brothers and sisters (she is the oldest) and the times they had growing up there! We got back to the rig and rested for a bit and fed the dogs then headed off to San Juan Bautista to go to Dona Esther for a nice Mexican dinner and margaritas. Thanks to all who called, texted, or messaged me during the day. It was a very nice way to celebrate and very nice day too and I enjoyed it all!   

Monday, September 12^th., 2022……  We travel again today. Headed 143 miles to Santa Rosa and the Sonoma County Fairgrounds RV Park. We were not looking forward to this park. I didn’t do much of a review before booking way back in July! My bad!  I did take a look a few days a go and the park reviews were terrible!  Gravel, close together and run down!  So we expected that and called ahead to the next park and asked if our site was available a day early. We had prepaid for the Fairgrounds but we are willing to give up one night if need be. But when we got to the park and saw our site was not crowded and was level and clean, we decided to keep to our plan. Good thing because we got a call from the next park that our site was not available.  We got set up and got the dish going and then relaxed for a bit. FYI – the dish is actually a little in the next site because of the trees in the way – so we’ll have to see if they put anyone in there today or tomorrow. Hope not! 

We decided to go find a winery in the area. Cathye has never been wine tasting so it was a good time for that today! I found Harvest Moon, locally owned and operated and all bottling here is from their property. Online said they wanted you to make tasting reservations but walk-ins were ok given the day and crowds. Well, when we got there, we found we were the only ones there on a Monday afternoon!  It was perfect!  The guy was super nice and when we told him this was her first tasting experience, he was extra helpful. 

We tasted a flight of several wines and ended up buying a few bottles. Cathye liked it so much that we are planning on heading over to Napa to V Sattui (my favorite winery!) tomorrow for the day. They have a picnic area and I texted them and they said they were dog friendly, so we can take the pups. On the way home, we stopped at Panda Express and took food home to eat. Monday night football. My Broncos against her Seahawks!  The Seahawks held off Wilson’s late drive and won the game.     

Tuesday, September 13^th., 2022…… No hurry today. I made a coffee run while she made breakfast. We found the laundry and got some clothes together to wash a few loads. While she waited and watched that, I headed off to get dog food and a coffee maker at Walmart. I also need to scout out a fuel stop for tomorrow.  Not much room at the local stations that sell diesel so I’ll have to work on that. After we got the clothes folded and put away, we loaded the dogs in the car and drove the 35 miles up and over the foothills into the Napa Valley. We came in through Calistoga and worked our way down to St. Helena where Sattui is located. They have a wonderful outdoor shaded picnic area and, as I said, the dogs were welcomed there. She went in the tasting room and store and looked around and then sent me back in to get wine and cheese and meats and bread and grapes for our charcuterie board. It was really tasty. We didn’t drink the full bottle. I only had one of the little 4 oz plastic picnic cups. I was good to go!  

We got back home and I headed off to go to Petco and also to get gas in the Honda. I spotted a Smart & Final store and stopped in and got some of my Ramona’s potato and beef burritos. Yaay! My favorite!  I also wanted to scope out a truck stop close by for diesel and see how to get in and out tomorrow. Turns out it is only a few miles south of us (which isn’t too bad) and has an easy on-ramp to head north on the 101 so it should work. Then it was back home for the evening. There have been several folks around us leaving and a few more coming in. But so far no one is parked near us so we have the satellite dish still in place. One more night to go!  Cathye fixed us stuffed salmon for dinner and we drank the rest of our bottle of wine and settled in to watch tv (America’s Got Talent) until bedtime. But what happened next was not expected! A 4.4 earthquake hit us!  The epicenter was only 2 miles from Santa Rosa. Not sure where that would be from us but we sure felt it.  An aftershock of 4.3 immediately followed. 

I have been in several earthquakes in my life but never have I been this close to the epicenter!  It was a jolt to say the least!  No damage reported anywhere that we heard so we were happy to hear that. Poor Cathye hasn’t been through one since she left California over 50 years ago so she was a little shaken up (no pun intended)!  Then, when we got to the 8:00pm AGT show, we discovered that the satellite dish had moved enough to not receive a signal, so I had to go out and realign it. We missed the first act and half of the next but we saw highlights later. Out of the eleven finalists, we think we have the top three figured out. But – it is a lot tougher this season, given the talent level. We’ll see tomorrow.            

Wednesday, September 14^th., 2022……  The drive to Ft. Bragg is only 117 miles today, so we were in no hurry. We pulled out and hooked up the Honda and left around 10:00am. As I hoped, we made it to the diesel station with no problem and were headed out by 10:40am. The route today took us off of hwy 101 and west on hwy 20 to the park. It is probably the windiest road I have been on in several years! But we took it slow and made it ok. We are now at Fort Bragg Leisure Time RV Park. This is the other (of 2) 30-amp-only parks, so we will need to take it easy on the power. But since we are on the coast, and the heat wave has already broken, we won’t need both airs. We’ll see how it goes. We got set up and walked the dogs and checked out the campground. I always try to stay at parks I know (and like) but the Santa Rosa, Ft. Bragg and Klamath locations were unknowns. This park is older and a bit tighter than we’d like, but we’re in and good to go for today and tomorrow. We left in the car and drove the two miles to hwy 1 and found Glass Beach. We had read about the glass that came from several years of dumping in the ocean in the 50s. It is illegal to remove any but we managed to find and keep a few pieces.

We came back and rested for a while, then Cathye heated up leftovers. We walked the girls and then settled in to watch tv.  The 2-hr AGT finale wasn’t on until 9:00pm so we only planned on watching it until 10:00pm, which we did. We also went online and bought tickets for tomorrow for the Skunk Train.         

Thursday, September 15^th., 2022……  Can you believe that today was the first time on this trip that we went out for breakfast! We chose The Home Style Café but found it has shut down. We then went up the coast a few blocks to Egghead’s and put our name in. It was pretty good. After that, we needed to get back to walk the dogs before coming back to town to board the train. Established in 1885, the train travels along Pudding Creek, back into the California redwoods. It was pretty much like any old train ride, which we’ve done many times in many places, but we thought, ‘What the heck! Let’s do it!’ It was a nice ride and we rode both inside one of the cars and also stood outside on the open air platform car.

Once we got back, we headed back home to take the girls out for a walk. We watched the second half of the AGT finale. We thought we had the top three. Even though we had two of them, I was disappointed that Drake Milligan didn’t win. But he has already made his name and talent known and will be a C&W star immediately!  Congrats to the Mayyas. Disappointed that Sara James didn’t finish higher. But again, she will be moving ahead in her career pretty quickly.     

Friday, September 16^th., 2022…… We had 197 miles to drive today, all of it windy and slow! But we made it with only one problem. On the many, many 180° turns going on Hwy 1 back to Hwy 1 (about 30-35 miles), we had a cabinet come open. Problem was it was the one with the DirecTV receiver box, which came down on her head! She was dazed for a bit but conscious and alert. I pulled over as soon as it was safe and checked her pupils. Good results and we continued on, with her going back to take a couple of Tylenol for the headache. We got to our park about 2:30pm and got set up. This is a 30 and 50 amp park. The 50 amp sites are back-in only and face the forest.  I chose the 30 amp site because we got this view!

Once we got set up and the dish going, we rested for a bit and decided that after our trek today, we wanted to go out to dinner!  We fed the dogs and then headed off for the 5-minute drive into town and explore it - only a couple of buildings so it didn’t take long! - and found the local bar and grill!  For a little local joint, they had some pretty good food!  We shared a delicious patty melt and fries and had a couple of draft beers. 

Once we got back, we took a nice walk on the Klamath River. One of the campers said he saw a black bear last night and his ice chest had been worked on. So, we were a little cautious after that! We watched tv until bedtime and found we both went right to sleep after our arduous drive! 

Oops, almost forgot!  We heard from our contractor early this morning that they would be on the job today! Penny went over and got these pics. I'm guessing this will be all we'll see before we get home.

                                              

Saturday, September 17^th., 2022…… We slept in a bit and then showered and fed and walked the girls. We made plans last night for today. We wanted to drive the 19 miles north to Crescent City and have breakfast and then go to the grocery store. We would also look for entries to the Redwoods Forest on the drive. Nothing north of us. We found a local place called The Harvest House for breakfast. Good enough but they were understaffed and those there were not very organized so we had to wait a bit. We found the local market and then headed back south to the campground. We unloaded the groceries and then loaded the dogs and headed south to the Redwoods area. We checked at the visitor center and found that none of the trails allowed dogs, so we left. But we stopped at one turnout trailhead that had no posted signs. Hey, better to beg forgiveness, than ask permission! The girls got a chance to walk in the woods and enjoyed the smells and water. We saw a corkscrew tree, which I have never seen before. They actually had several where the trunks of more than one tree spiraled around each other over the years. Cool! May be hard to see in the pics, but we tried…

Once we got back in the car, we headed back to our turn to the campground, but this time we continued on to the end of the road to see this coastal viewpoint. It was awesome!

We got back home and fed the dogs and ate some leftovers and watched Wild Hogs, which she had never seen before. One of my favorite Tim Allen movies! We leave tomorrow but the drive will be only 75 miles, so we stayed up and caught up on other taped shows.