Sept. 22, 2008, Oregon Coast

Lorraine's report September 22, 2008

We moved again today from Lincoln City, Oregon to south of Newport, Oregon. We spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in a nice RV resort- Chinook Bend, outside of Lincoln City. It was about seven miles south of LC; there were goats, cows, and the owners said they saw a herd of elk just before we arrived here. Earlier, the owner said they had been catching Chinook salmon and there were llamas here also. Chinook Bend RV resort is on the Siletz River, with a boat launch and would have been great if we had been able to get Internet and cell phones services, but alas no such luck. Paradise Cove where we came from was nice, also, but far from any activities, except the harbor for fishing. I must admit I love my creature comforts-like 50 amp, water and sewer. Guess I’m spoiled a bit.

Sunday we drove down to Depot Bay, since it was a steady drizzle all morning. While at DB, we explored the shops, and while watching the water from the overlook, we spotted three whale water spouts right off the beach. Didn’t ever see the whales, would have been great to see them jump or something exciting like that.

We came back home, took Misty out for a walk, then headed up to Spirit Mountain Casino. Spent several hours there, and donated to the cause, it was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. (Should say that the Kingdome Satellite receiver doesn’t work well in snow or rain so we couldn’t watch the Seahawks game, they won.)

Saturday we went shopping at Tanger Outlet Mall in LC. I wanted to look for several things for us for our cruise to Mexico, and the prices were great-75% off on what I bought.

I enjoy this central part of Oregon the most. The water and beach are close by, you can smell the ocean, and on rainy, stormy days like yesterday, the tidal action is awesome to watch.

Today is our 36th anniversary, wow-where did the years go? Till next time.

Chuck's report September 22, 2008

Happy Anniversary to my wife, she has put up with me for 36 years today. I would like to say “I STILL LOVE MY WIFE”! I'm sure glad she agreed to try this lifestyle, I know how hard it was for her to give up her house, family, friends and a “normal” life.

Our first blog was pretty long, mostly just told of places we had been to, not much about what we had seen or done. If we continue to write once a week or so, we can have shorter blogs but with more information. For now, we just want to get in a habit of writing this blog a bit more often. We will be adding pictures too, once we figure out how to do that.

A bit of information about our motorhome. We have two air conditioners on the roof (each has an attached heat pump for heating), a clothes washer and dryer (Maytag, just like at a house), a dishwasher, a hot water heater/furnace combination using a diesel boiler/electric heater (circulating instant and unlimited hot water for showers and area heating), a satellite dish for getting TV reception plus all the normal stuff like TVs, microwave, lights, exhaust fans and stuff. We also use a Version Air card and a Cradlepoint router for cell phone and Internet access. I know that seems excessive but remember, this is our home, we are not camping for a weekend or such.

In order to use all the items above, we like to have a site in campground that includes water hookup, sewer hookup, 50 Amp electrical service, a clear view to the South for satellite and cell phone access. It seems we have trouble finding all the services in every campground.

A lot of campgrounds are older and not made for newer rigs like ours and only have 30 Amp service. If we only have 30 Amp, that means we have to manage our electrical usage better, IE, use only one air conditioner, the drier, the microwave, the electrical heat for the water, one at a time. If we forget to manage our power usage correctly, we trip the outside breaker and have to go reset it, not fun at night. Some campgrounds don't have sewer hookups at each site (just a common dump) and a very few don't have water hookups. Most have lots of trees, which keep us from getting a clear view of the Southern sky.

Of course, if we boondock or stop for the night at Wal Mart, we don't have any power, water or sewer. Although the motorhome is set up to allow us to do that, we try to stay in a campground if we are in the area for awhile and just boondock or stay at Wal Mart if we are traveling and just need a place to stop and rest for the night.

We like to travel and sightsee a few miles around our campground, using it as a day base camp. Here on the coast, we could stop at all the small state parks and beaches using our car, without having to move the rig everyday. We like to stop at the small towns and go into their tourist trap shops, lots of junk in each of them, sometimes we find something, most of the time it's just looking. After about 4 days in area, we have seen most of the area and things we wanted to visit so we move.

This past week we have been on the Oregon coast. We stayed at Rockaway Beach for the first 4 days, had a nice site but only had 30 Amp service. It was on a bluff overlooking the river, we watched people fishing for salmon and saw a few nets go in the water, not sure what they caught but something was on the hook.

We are currently at a very nice campground just South of Lincoln City, up the Siletz river a bit and in a very nice valley, right on the river. We have WSE (water, sewer, electric hookups), a good view of the Southern sky for satellite but no cell phone or Internet reception. Like I said, we don't always get everything we would like at these campgrounds but make do with what they have.. I have spent some time at the river watching the fisherman but haven't seen any nets in the water, the owners say its been a slow week for fishing. The campground is pretty full, lots of people fishing but not many people catching.

We are moving today to Newport, about 50 miles down the coast. Not sure what the campground is like but will work with whatever we have. This area of the Oregon Coast is Lorraine's favorite, long, sandy beaches without the big sand dunes or rocky cliffs. We will see what the Newport area has to offer and enjoy our time there, I'm sure.