August 8-13, 2012
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| Vonna taking pictures |
We woke up early today, ready to hit the road. I reached up to close our vent, and what do
you know, it was gone. It broke off
sometime while we were here. We ate
breakfast and off I went to Grants Pass to the RV Supply Store.
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| Again |
It was about 15 miles.
I got there and found out that there are 4 different types. I had to go back to take the old one off, and
then back to the RV Supply. Brought it
back. I was up on the roof of the trailer
and Vonna was inside trying to figure out how to get the new one on. We finally got it on, but broke a piece
off. We closed it up and I needed a
drill motor (I forgot and left it at home) and a small screw.
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| The river along road |
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Who is the Baldheaded fellow
changing the tire? |
Anyway, we needed to be out of the campsite at 1 pm, and we
finally left at 12:45. We are driving
along and Vonna says she saw something flying off the top of the trailer. I stopped and the new part was still on
there, I bunged the vent down so it wouldn’t lift anymore.
We drive and the roads were up and down through the
mountains. We were talking and having a
great ride. We heard a bang and the car
next to me pointed toward the trailer.
Yes, we had another flat, or blowout this time. We were 4 miles from Myrtle Creek. I had to get out and change it. Not too hard, but we were on the side of the
road this time. I finally got the spare
on and off we go, slow but surely. I looked
at Map Quest and the next Les Schabe was in Myrtle Creek. There were two men on the side of the
building, the waved me to pull up there, I got out pointed at the blown out
tire in the back seat and got two new tires.
We shouldn’t have any more problems.
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| Look Close - Elk |
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| Bridge going onto 101 |
We stopped to eat lunch at McDonalds, and walk the
dogs. Then off for the rest of our trip
to South Jetty Campsite in Florence, OR.
We got in about 6 or so and got the trailer set-up and sat down to relax
by 8. It was a long day. South Jetty is a nice park. Lots of trees, but I know that Vonna was
counting on being closer to the ocean.
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Pulling into South Jetty
Campground |
We got up and had a small breakfast. I told Vonna I want to get into town to get
some tools and screws to fix the vent.
Before I left I went into the bath room and opened the vent and what do
you know, it was also broke off.
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| There is the bald guy again |
I went to True Value, got some things, asked where the
nearest RV Supply was and headed there.
Found the RV Supply at the end of our road, and got another vent for the
bathroom. He asked if I was sure about
the type and I said yes.
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| Couldn't have done it without Vonna |
Got back to the trailer, got everything ready, remove the
stuff from the bathroom so Vonna wouldn’t have to and climbed up on the roof
again. Went to do the hard one first, fixing
the broken one. Remember I said that
Vonna saw something fly off the roof? Well
I know what it was, the part that I was going to drill and put a screw in to
fix. It was gone.
I finished the bathroom in case I needed something else and
then back to the RV Supply Store, and buy a new Vent for the bedroom. The screen was broke in there and I couldn’t
find a replacement anyway, so I guess all things happen for the best. Finally, $100 later, at 2 pm, I climb off the
roof and clean everything up. But we
have two new vents.
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| Including Alan's Kitchen |
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| Camp is set-up |
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| With Peace Signs |
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| Even on the dogs' pen |
We finish there rest of the afternoon setting up our
campsite – empting the truck and getting stuff out from the storage under the
trailer. Everything looks good and we
are ready to cook dinner. It was getting
late and we were tired, or at least I was after a few hours in the sun on top
of the trailer. Don’t know where my son,
grandson, or brother-in-law is when I have work to do. I’m not used to this working stuff. We are able to get TV here, so we watch the Olympics
and relaxed after dinner.
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| On river town of Florence |
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| Bridge into town |
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| Florence |
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| Lunch at Bridgewater |
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| First buy in Florence |
Friday we decided to go into town, in fact we were going to
go for a long drive, and we saw the riverside Old Town of Florence and decided
to stop there first. It was about 11
when we stopped and by 3 I told Vonna that I was getting hungry. We were going into the shops and having a
great time looking and reading my book. It
was fun. Vonna had heard in one of the
shops about the Bridgewater Restaurant so we decided to try it. It was great.
We both had seafood and everything was very good. We will go back before we leave the area.
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| After shopping at Sea Lion's Cave |
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| At Sea Lion's Cave |
After we finished shopping we drove around town and then out
to the Sea Lion Caves, but it was too late to walk down to them. Maybe another day. We did have time to look in the gift shop. By the time we got into town it was getting
late, and we were tired, so we didn’t stop at the store as planned, but decided
to go tomorrow.
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| On 101 heading back to town |
Saturday morning we got up, relaxed, ate breakfast, loaded
the dogs and headed for the beach. We drove
and it started getting cloudy (it is about 3 miles to the beach) and windy, and
colder. There are sand dunes and we found
a parking lot. I told Vonna to wait and I
would walk to see how far the beach was.
I was going to take a picture and send to her to see.
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| Vonna's Family Lake |
Well, I walked and walked a little farther. Up a hill and down, hearing the wind and
ocean, and then I think just up one more hill.
I can see the water, but not the beach.
I reach for my camera, and I had left it in the car. Oh well.
It is cold and windy, and I don’t need to see it anyway. I walked back and we got to talk and laugh
about it, but decided to wait for a warmer day to go back.
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| Sunday at Ocean |
We drove into town. It
was sunny and clear. We stopped at the
grocery store, which also has a Starbucks, and bought some groceries. Back home, had a BBQ, Pork Chops. It was a nice day, full of fun, and we are
all set for tomorrow.
Both Sunday and today have been lay-back days. We had BBQ’ed steak on Sunday, spaghetti on
Monday, Biscuits and gravy for breakfast, cottage cheese and fruit for
lunch. We have had time to just relax
and catch up on some nice relaxing retirement time.
Vonna is working at the table. Her favorite place. We both read a little, do our devotions, and
just talk. We talked about where we
would like to go while in this area. We
plan to stay near the campsite most of the time. We will visit a couple of light houses and go
south to Coos Bay.
Vonna is also going to finish Mikaylah’s book that they
started 5 or 6 years ago. We want to get
it published before her anniversary. We
have things to do, but just enjoying our time together. I will write more over the next week. We are really enjoying our trip, and enjoying
the cooler weather. Enjoy the summer and
we will talk soon.
Hi Alan & Vonna,
ReplyDeleteI’m so glad you’re visiting the Oregon coast. I hope by now you’ve been able to see the ocean. I wish we were there to take you on the sand dunes to the ocean in our jeep. If you go west to the ocean turn north the road dead ends at the jetty. It is very pretty on a clear day. We never ran into that many people – we almost always had the beach to ourselves!!
We saw the sea lion caves and luckily I had Gary go back and get his binoculars and that made it much easier to see the seals and sea lions. We also saw Heceta Lighthouse. It is alittle hike up to the lighthouse. When you get there they do have a tour and you can see the lightkeeper's home that they’ve made into a bed and breakfast (you only see it on the outside). It is the most photographed lighthouse. Gary and I stopped on the highway and he was able to get some good pictures (from a distance).
We went to Coo’s Bay twice. The first time was on my birthday but it was cold, rainy and foggy so we stayed in town and shopped – and that was fun – but when we returned we went to Shore Acres State Park. It is beautiful. There were all kinds of roses in bloom. The original mansion burnt down, but the botanical gardens and caretaker’s cottage are great! We walked to the south of the gardens and saw a whale and sea lions but we could have drove. There were some rangers that had telescopes set up. To see Cape Arago Lighthouse we walked north and then had to use our binoculars. I think you could drive to see that too. But you can’t get right up to it. There was a great shop somewhere in the Charleston area but I can’t remember the name. They had a few antiques but some great handmade things too. Gary said that it’s on the mainland side of the bridge.
On our way to Umpqua River Lighthouse (that had a great tour) we stopped at a floating restaurant in the Winchester Bay and had their fish and chips. I don’t know if it was because I never eat them but they tasted the best of the whole trip. We were the last party that got to go on the tour. It had a separate coastal museum that was the original Coast Guard House. You may try calling first to find out the times of the tour.
If you like salmon you might want to try Waterfront Restaurant in old town. Fred Meyer (sp) is a good place (kinda like Walmart) to shop in the north part of town.
Alan, I’m glad you’ve already found the Oregon Coast magazine. We used it a lot – what a wealth of information. I would like to go the other way next time (from the north to south) it would be easier to use!!!
I’m keeping you in my prayers. With Love, Michele