Oct 5th 2008, Left the Oregon Coast, headed inland

10/5/2008

Lorraine's Sunday’s posting

We were in Coos Bay, OR. for several days, our last stop before we left the coast. What a nice area and a nice park we stayed in. It’s called Midway RV Park and we found it in the Passport America book. It was paved, with landscaping that came to the top of the coach’s windows. It had 20, 30 & 50 amp and the sites were large enough to park the car and rig in.

We enjoyed our time in Coos Bay and our time on the WA and OR coast. It has been since ’93 since we were here on the OR coast, and I must say it sure has changed and grown, just like the rest of America.

On Tuesday, we went for our normal 25 mile north and south drive, of where we parked the Bus. That took us to Simpson Reef. What a nice treat to see all the seals and seal lions sunning themselves on the rocks of Simpson Reef. We walked out to the point at the end of the road and took some nice pictures of where we had just been, up on the cliffs.

Then Chuck headed north. We ended up at Umpqua Lighthouse, where friends of Richard and Patsy King and Mike and Linda, are volunteers at the lighthouse. Chuck took the tour with Bob, while I stayed with Linda Klyne. We had a nice visit, talking about Quartzsite. Bob & Linda talked about going to Quartzsite this year and want to go to Mexico with the group again. It was late when we got back to the Bus.

We left Coos Bay, Oregon on Thursday morning, this was the last of our time on the coast. We are currently at Seven Feathers, Canyonville, Oregon. I think this is one of the nicest if not the best RV parks we have stayed in. The sites are paved, most sites are pull thrus plus there’s really nice landscaping. There is a big rec house, with a pool and hot tub, where tonight the manager of the park was having a free wine and cheese tasting party for all people staying here.
Seven Feathers is also a big casino, owned by the Cow Creek Band of Indians. So far, all we have done is just donate to the cause.

Also, we received our mail for the first time since we left on September 10th. We even got our voters absentee ballots so we will be able to vote for our next president.

October 3 is the first anniversary of our year out on the road. And it’s raining, just like it did when we left a year ago. This year has been full of fun, a few tears, a lot of challenges, and many adventures. I wonder what the future will hold for us in this next year. I eagerly look forward to our next year on the road, and I pray we are up for whatever the future holds.

Till next time

October 5, 2008

Chuck's Ramblings and Weekly Report

Oct. 3 was our one year anniversary of being on the road. I can't say I know and understand everything about our coach yet but the surprises aren't coming as often! I can't say we have explored all the sights to see in any one area, will have to return for more. I can't say we haven't had any problems or quarrels but nothing of a major event. I can't say some of the costs are not more than anticipated, especially fuel. I can't say everyone we've met were overly friendly. I can't say all the places we've stayed at were 5 star, some in hindsight, we would have avoided all together.

I can say, I have enjoyed our time together, we have had fun, seen lots of places, done lots of things and made some life long friends. In that respect, the first year has met my expectations and then some. I just hope the 2nd year is as good for us. We knew we would miss our family and friends but with cell phones and e-mail, it seems we can stay more current with them than when we lived in our house.

In the first year on the road, we have driven the rig 14,400 miles, visited portions of 22 states. Lots of people ask what is our favorite place, I don't think any one is the best, it depends on what the weather and we are doing. We really enjoyed Arizona and Palm Springs in the winter. We found out it isn't rainy and gray ever day in the winter like it can be in Bellingham. We enjoyed being back in Bellingham for a good portion of the summer and we've really enjoyed the Oregon coast for the past month.

Another question we are commonly asked is about how much money it costs. I can only say, it costs whatever you want it to. With the high fuel prices, we just don't travel every day and try to stay in one spot a bit longer. For example, we filled the diesel tank in Idaho just before we crossed into Washington state on July 27th. We wanted to put some diesel in last week in Oregon, means we made it ~ 8 weeks on one tank of fuel. This doesn't mean we don't feel the effects of the higher prices, we are just finding a way to live with it.

Campground fees are another controllable cost. Between staying at 1000 Trails, Beachwood in Birch Bay (thanks John and Thelma), frequent stays at Passport America parks and weekly vs daily stays at others, we have managed to keep these costs reasonable. A lot of places ask $40 – 50/night, we probably average more like $10 - 15/night.

So far, we have had schedules to keep, some for maintenance on the coach and some for rallies we wanted to attend. We even had schedules for doctor visits back in Washington. This year, the only schedule we have is to spend the holidays with Susy and her family and be at the Kenai River in Alaska when the Kings are running next summer. Not running on a set schedule should help with the costs, again staying in a spot longer and not traveling as far or as often.

Another controllable cost is casinos, LOL. Usually Lorraine is able to make enough to make up for my losses, a very few times it was the other way around. Sometimes we both won, sometimes we both lost. We are not big time gamblers (penny machines) so even when we both lose, it isn't a bank breaking affair. Of course, we don't have to go to them at all but sometime they have good campgrounds associated with them, such as here at Seven Feathers.

Enough of my musing, here is my weekly report.

Last week, our stay in South Jetty ended on Monday so we headed South once again. This time our drive was about 65 miles, still not a long trip but a nice drive. We stayed at AAA Midway RV, a Passport America campground on the West Side of Coos Bay. There are lots of campgrounds around the area, some of them we felt uncomfortable just driving through to check them out, in other words – They were dumps --. Midway is fairly new, long sites, easy access except for the turn around the office. All the sites have full, 50 amp hookups. A very nice stay and half price using Passport America, I would recommend staying there if you are in the area.

As I stated earlier, our favorite area of the Oregon coast is the long, sandy beaches in the Newport area. This area has more of the sand dunes and a bit further South it gets back to the high cliffs with rocky beaches. Tuesday was a very nice day, weather wise, so we decided to explore the area. Coos Bay is on a bay (surprise) so we headed Southeast to the coast at Simson's Reef. What a nice area, high cliffs but just off shore are the Oregon Islands with lots of seals and sea lions on them. You can hear them barking, see them swimming and frolicking around. We were there just about at high tide and the waves breaking over the Island and rocks were pretty neat. As this is a bit out of the normal route for exploring the coast, I would recommend you put this on your list if you are in the area.

We then drove North to tour the Umpqua River Lighthouse where Bob and Lindy Klyne are volunteering for two months. The year before last, Bob and Linda were with some of the folks from RV America Forum at Quartzsite and traveled to Mexico with them. I've been following Bob's blog since then and almost feel I knew them before meeting them. In fact, reading his blog was part of the reason we decided to camp with the RV America group at Quartzsite this past winter. Bob gives tours of the lighthouse, takes about an hour and costs $3.00, well worth the time. He has researched the history and knows the lighthouse and area's history, gives a very informative tour. Lorraine didn't feel up to doing the stairs so she visited with Linda while I was on the tour. You can access his blog here from his web page, he posts a lot more often than I do and he adds lots of good pictures.

http://www.because-we-can.net/

Although we really enjoy the coast, the weather forecast showed a big storm heading for the coast from California all the way up to Washington. We decided to head inland and see if the weather would be a bit better. So on Thursday we drove about 100 miles to Canyonville, Oregon.

We made reservations to stay at Seven Feather's RV Resort, part of the Cow Creek Indian tribe's holding, not much in “town”. Of course, they have a nice casino here that draws in lots of people for the gambling but the RV park is probably the nicest one we have stayed at in the past year. It is just over two years old and they did a great job of setting it up. Being a new campground, it has it all. This place and Midway RV are the best places we have stayed at since leaving Washington.

On Saturday morning, I woke up to a partly sunny sky which soon turned into a partly rainy morning. I saw an unusual sight, a full rainbow in the morning. It was very bright but only out for about 10 minutes. The rest of the day was off and on rain, never did see the sun again on Saturday.

Lorraine wanted to do some shopping (another controllable cost, ha) so she headed off to Roseburg. She really likes the no sales tax here in Oregon plus she is a good shopper, always looking for good sales. I was able to get in some good football watching time.

I also was able to work on what to do with the motorhome when we go on our cruise. Our cruise dates are 12/6 – 12/13. There is a 1000 Trails park about 75 miles from the terminal in Los Angeles and we can leave it there, hooked up to power, keeping the 'fridge running and the batteries charged. I would much rather leave it there than put it in dry storage somewhere so glad that worked out for us.

And so ends our first year and another week since our last post. Until next time, keep the shiny side up and I don't want to read about you in the papers unless it's good news.