Made It To Paradise Point..........

this afternoon. Did a bit of cussing and swearing but finally located the Hughes Satellite so we now have our internet connection for the next 9 days. Even had some tree problems with the Dish satellite but everything working now. We're definitely back in Washington.............it's been raining off and on all day, was lucky to get things pretty much set up this afternoon before the sky opened up. Last night Dug and I talked Trace into getting a Mohawk haircut for the summer. Tami trimmed him up and today I bought a bottle of Pink and a bottle of Blue hair color for him. It outta make his Mohawk stand up. Forgot to leave it when we left but will drop it off tomorrow on my way for a dental appointment so will post another photo after he gets it colored.

Firework sales started today so guess I'll stop and spend my allowance on goodies. Weather is supposed to clear up for the weekend and temperatures almost 90 by the time the 4th rolls around. 90!! I thought I left California. Should be cool on the Oregon coast when we go to Coos Bay.

More later. Becky and Wayne

It's Wednesday.......I Think...........

and we're sitting in front of Doug's house. Will be going to Paradise Point tomorrow sometime. Hooked up to an "open" network in the area so may or may not get this posted as I keep losing the wifi signal. Arrived in Vancouver on Tuesday and stopped by Les Schwab to bitch and moan about the handling of the M/H since new tires were installed. They were able to check the front tires yesterday and ended up putting on one new tire. I drove it and it still had problems so we dropped it off again this morning. Rebalanced the tires as needed on the rear, replaced another one and hopefully that will solve the handling problems. Will give it the old highway test tomorrow on the way to Paradis Pt. We managed to get our laundry done today so it wasn't a wasted day. Also stopped at a new motorcycle shop and picked up a new helmet and goggles for "B". I got my "MTV" and Becky has been on-line and escaped withdrawals so things are looking up. We'll have everything hooked up when we get to the park so if it doesn't rain we might be able to take the "Twerps" geocaching in the next few days. Just lost wifi signal so if it comes back I'll submit this post. Later. Wayne & Becky

Update...........

Well, I think today is Monday, June 25. We're at the Lincoln City library and this is the first chance to get on-line for a few days. The top group of pictures were taken when we were geocaching near Florence, Oregon and staying at Honeyman SP. We made a few treks into the woods/sand and found 11 caches. We did stop at our favorite clam chowder place in Florence...............bummer, they either changed cooks or their chowder recipe 'cause their clam chowder absolutely sucked. It was tart.......told the waitress and she said it was probably the lemon juice they put in the chowder. Who in the hell would ever put lemon juice in clam chowder??? Needless to say the Fire Station restaurant in Florence is no longer on our eatery list. Prior to leaving Florence we made a short jaunt up the coast to Sea Lion Caves. I've been there before so Becky had to tour the cave by herself. She took a bunch of pictures of the sea lions and of Heceta Light House.........supposedly the most photographed lighthouse in Oregon.

We stayed in Lincoln City overnight on the 21st and then drove to Sand Lake for the weekend. Arrived early on Friday morning and couldn't find a campsite.......everything full up so we ended up parking in the parking lot. Kinda noisy and it poured down rain on Saturday night but the days were overflowing with sunshine. Doug, Tami, Cassidy & Trace showed up with my Rhino and we managed to get it into the sand dunes although the Rhino was running kinda ragged. Should have it hitting on all four cylinders by the time we go to Coos Bay after the 4th of July. Saturday afternoon Becky and I continued our quest for clam chowder and ended up at a little cafe east of Tillamook. The chowder was "OK". We just kicked around the campsite, fed our faces and watched the world go by. Sunday morning we were packed up and ready to return to Lincoln City but couldn't get out of there. A jeep hit a motorhome on the narrow road so we were delayed several hours while they hauled the wrecks away. Finally made it to Devil's Lake SP, where we are now, got set up and discovered that a Kite Festival was being held on the beach. We got there at the tail end of it but managed to see some kite demonstations that were, as Becky put it, "COOL". Found our favorite fish 'n chips place, the fish is still good, chowder so-so and then made a small contribution to my red brothers at the local casino. It cost us about $15.00 for two hours of entertainment so guess that wasn't too bad.

Downloaded some "easy to find" geocaches so as soon as Becky gets done with her email we'll probably go looking for some. We'll be leaving tomorrow sometime and either stay at the Spirit Mountain Casino for overnight or else drive on to Vancouver. We have reservations for 10 days at Paradise Point SP north of Vancouver, WA so we'll be settled for awhile. I'll be able to hook up the internet satellite dish there so Becky will be able to forgo withdrawals for awhile.

Later..............Wayne & Becky

In Honeyman State Park...........

just a few miles south of Florence, Oregon. The campsite is FREE; but, NO satellite TV and NO satellite internet! Too many trees but a very nice state park. We drove around and scouted some areas where TV might be possible so have marked them down for the future. We've just about accomplished all we wanted to do in the Florence area, went geocaching yesterday and picked up a dozen or so caches, stopped at our favorite fish 'n chips place, pigged out on biscuits and gravy for breakfast, won a few bucks at the local casino and all we have left to do is chow down on clam chowder which we will do this afternoon. We're at the library right now and catching up on email and logging our caches.

Next stop is either Lincoln City or Sand Lake sand dunes. We might leave late this afternoon and drive up to Lincoln City and see if we can find a level spot at Chinook Winds casino for the night. Then out to Sand Lake early for a first come first served campsite. Doug and family and John and Charlene will be there for the weekend so we'll spend two days in the sand then to a campground in Lincoln City for two more days. We'll probably do some geocaching there and then set sail for Vancouver about Wednesday.

So far weather has been cooperating. A little overcast yesterday but looks like it will be super nice today. Hope the rain stays away for the weekend.

Will try to post some pictures next time we get the SAT dish hooked up.

Later, W & B

Taking the Mail Hydro-jet Boats........

up the Rogue River at Gold Beach. We had to get up early for this one......no reservations so we left the campsite at 0645 for the 25 mile trip to Gold Beach from Brookings. All of the rides had seating available so we chose the 80 mile "Special Delivery" run. The ride was broken into three parts, the lower recreational part of the river, the scenic portion and finished up in the wild section where the river has some moderate rapids. The boat driver was a little nutso and would make quick stops and 360 degrees turns designed to get us a little wet.......all in good fun of course. We saw a variety of wildlife including ducks, geese, seals, otters, red-eyed something or others, vultures, bald eagles, wild turkeys and even Bambi. I had hoped for a black bear but no such luck. We did pass through a deep portion of the river where sturgeons lived but we didn't see any there. The driver said he occasionally sees them; but, he been running the river for 30 years!

It was a fun trip and took about 6 hours. We did stop for lunch at the 35 mile mark in Agness, OR.

Some more pictures of today's adventure follow. Wayne and Becky

More Critters Spied On.............

our boat run. Saw lots of Bald Eagles, a bunch of swallow nests attached to the rocks, Canadian geese, some birds that we didn't know what they were (the driver told us but at our age who can remember titles like "red-headed, bowtailed snaggle finch" or sometimg similar. We saw a mink, turtles and another strange critter at the end of the boat run.

More River Pics..........

We passed under this bridge and the boat driver said our picture was being taken and we could purchase same after we returned. It wasn't worth $10.95. I took a photograph of their photographer taking our picture; but, they weren't willing to trade pictures. We passed numerous fishing boats but only two had taken any fish. I yelled to the second boat that a "kid" had caught a bigger fish then they had just down river. We stopped for lunch at Agness, OR. They had a buffet........nothing to write home about but it filled an empty spot. They had a sign on top of the restaurant showing a high water mark in 1964......certainly would not have wanted to be there then as Agness was about 120 feet above the water. Musta been quite a flood. Here the village square in Agness. Driver said about 100 people live there the year around. A road has been built to Agness but they still use the boats for mail and other deliveries....more of a tradition then anything else. The sign leading to the dock was made by an "Old Angess Broad".

More River Pics...........

These were taken in the rapids section of our river run. The boat driver managed to give us all numerous showers when we hit the rapids. He also would be scooting up the river and the first time he said "turning the boat around" and then sent it into a 360. After that he'd give no warning and just whip it around in the middle of the river. After we would hit a nice section of rapids he turn around to "do it again!" Tons of fun.

Geocaching today..........

We were at the Harris Beach day use area yesterday and took the first picture from the beach. We could see a viewpoint at the top of the hill........Becky said she wanted to go up there and I told her to "have a ball" getting there. Then we discover that there's a geocache up there and since it was the first one of the day I made the trek up the hill with her. We were rewarded with a terrific view of the ocean and beach and found two Geodetic Survey Markers as a bonus. Nice start to a fun days...........even if Becky was looking like a grouch when we started back down the trail! More pictures of our day follow.

Nice Scenery............

along the Oregon coast. Our geocaching excursion took us North of Brookings along Highway 101 which has a whole bunch if rest stops/way points where one can turn off and catch a view of the Pacific. Most of them are part of the Oregon State Parks system. Had to travel some strange trails and crawl in bushes to make our finds; but, still a lot of fun. I was trained by "$kimmer" a geocacher we met in Yuma. She's from San Diego and her motto is: "Duh, take the money". Well I started skimming money where ever I find it and have accumulated a variety of U.S and foreign coins. Every now and then I get lucky and find dollar bills. I found this one wrapped up in the middle of a log book........it definitely has seen better days. I scoffed it up..........hey with the price of gas the way it is every scruffy old buck helps. Also found 2 dimes and six Finnish pennies today.

Some Geocaches We Found...........

today. The benchmarks were on top of the hill where we found our first cache. Some geocachers get creative in their hides. I picked up this stick, looked at both ends and dropped it back in the bushes. We looked and looked, reread the discription on the cache and I finally discovered that the piece of wood could be unscrewed to reveal the cache inside. Another one was stashed inside a mold of an angel and stuck on a tree about 6 feet off the ground. This one took awhile to find too. A series of caches were placed and named "Bruce's Bones" with each cache representating a different portion of "Bruce". I guess a little history accompanied these caches, we found Bruce's Foot and Neck but didn't look for the remainder as they were placed in various wayspots along Highway 101.

Chetco Museum.......

kinda wrapped up our day. We stopped by it yesterday after closing time and nearly missed it again. Got there about 15 minutes before closing but the old guy babysitting it let us browse until we were ready to leave. The museum was filled with goodies from yesteryear (when Becky was a kid) and one its main attraction was the largest Monterey Cypress tree in Oregon. At least that was the claim. Interesting old museum and we could have spent more time there.

Arrived Brookings, OR...........

about 1400 today. This "free campground" is going to be a little spendy. It was a back in site, I unhooked the Tracker, another rig was waiting to get by so I violated the No. 1 Rule about backing into unknown spaces. I could see the curb in my mirrors so thought I was OK..........not so, a tree limb was sticking out and I managed to put a dent/hole in the back of the rig. This site has cable TV so didn't have to fight the trees for reception....also the same WiFi we had near Grants Pass also is available in this park......that keeps "B" from going into withdrawals. After we got set up we headed to town to see what Brookings has to offer. Not much. We went down to the boat basin, shopped around a Saturday Market type affair with a few venders selling stuff we had no use for. The Hungry Clam was close by, and since we're looking for good clam chowder and fish and chips, we decided to give it a try. Naturally the waitress said their chowder was voted the "best" and they even had a grubby little plaque on the wall stating same. We split chowder and an order of fish and chips. The fish and chips were definitely in a class by themselves and absolutely gave us no reason for ever returning. The chowder was a 3 on a 5 scale.

We browsed the docks, "B" took some pictures of the ocean and we watched a pelican fishing. Drove down the road aways and found this big pile of rocks a couple of hundred yards from the road. Last picture is the beach area at Harris Beach State Park.

We'll probably go searching for some geocaches tomorrow and nothing else planned. We ran into some of Becky's kinfolk........they're staying in the park too. Haven't seen them since this afernoon..........maybe tomorrow they'll invite us over for a steak cookout! We're kinda kicking around the idea of taking a boat tour up the Rogue River from Gold Beach, a little burg about 25 miles up the road. Not definite yet but running the rapids sounds like it could be fun as well as picture ops for "B".

That's our day for today. B & W

Made It To Rogue Valley State Park........

located a little east of Grants Pass, Oregon early this afternoon. Full hook ups but am unable to find an opening in the trees for DISH TV. Bummer. Didn't try to set up the internet dish but found that WiFi was available in the campground. For $3.99 for 24 hours I figured that'd be better than trying to fight the trees..........trying to get the TV hooked up was enough frustration. We can get 3 channels from the roof antenna. A little old man and lady are camped next to us and they couldn't get their TV hooked up either. Double bummer!! They are from Bookings, where we're headed tomorrow, and they said "forget TV at Harris Beach SP, way too many trees there". We're going to be in Brookings for 3 days so guess I'll hook up the old DVD player and watch "Night Stalker" or "Highlander". Always did like them guys.

Becky went on line and discovered there were 6 geocaches in the park and immediate area so we went hunting for them. Here's a picture of our RV site, a plaque where there was a virtual cache, the Rogue River and me discovering a geocache. This is a super nice state park so will have to mark it down as a place to stay when traveling either north or south. It's much cheaper then driving another 50 miles and parking for "free" at the Seven Feather's Casino!

That was our day for today. Probably won't get back on line for several days unless we can find a free wifi hotspot.

For you Colorado "Dude Ranchers"........don't work too hard!! Becky and Wayne

About To Get Underway...................

Finally got the M/H back today........slide is working but I'm beginning to think it might have been worth it just hand cranking it in and out! Could have filled the gas tank three times with the $$$s it cost to diagnose and replace a slide controller. Oh well.................will just have to eat beans a little more often in the coming months.

We're still packing things up and hope to get out of here by 1000 tomorrow morning. We'll drive up to the Grants Pass area and stay overnight at the Rogue Valley State Park. At least the campground will be "no charge".

Figured I'd better give the old blog a quick update since I'll be taking the satellite dish down later this evening. We'll have three days at Brookings, OR so if I can get a clear view to the SE I'll set up the dish then............otherwise, don't know when we'll get back on line. Becky will just have to go through withdrawals.

That's about it for now. Later................... B&W

Blog Title Ses It All...............

OK Sports Fans........guess I'll make another attempt at maintaining a Blog. Sometimes it gets to be a real pain in the ass to maintain; but, I'll give it another try.

Becky and I are trying to get out of sunny, hot, sticky Northern California and head for the Pacific Northwest for a couple of months. After a cooling down period we'll head back to the midwest (naturally in the hottest part of the summer.....we're suckers for punishment) and ultimately stop in Branson, Missouri where we'll visit Becky's sister. How long we stay there will depend on how well Susie concocts biscuits and gravy!!!

We'll head out of Corntown about the 12th, over to the coast and travel North on 101. Should arrive in Vancouver, WA on June 28th. We'll be stopping at several Oregon State Parks, Indian casinos, and sand dunes south of Tillamook, OR and will continue our quest for the best clam chowder, fish 'n chips and dungeness crab on the Oregon coast! Of course we'll also be Geocaching where ever we stop. We'll be near Vancouver for about 10 days, then a group of us will head for the Oregon Sand Dunes at Coos Bay, OR for about 5 days. Back to Vancouver for 10 days and then toward Whidbey Island, WA for another 10 days. Northwest portion of our trip will wrap up in Vancouver about August 12. My youngest grandaughter, Cassidy, will be presenting a calf at the 10 day Clark County Fair. A new experience for her so don't wanna miss out on that.

About August 13 we'll start our trek to the Midwest via Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone NP, Devil's Tower, Mt. Rushmore, and take in other sights around Rapid City, through the Bad Lands and eventually to Glenwood, IA where my brother resides. Should get to Branson around September 4. Will probably get back to Corntown in time to get ready to go to Arizona for the winter.

OK, by now the title of this new Blog should make sense to all.

With a little bit of luck we might get out of here on Friday.........I say this because the controller for the slide on the M/H went belly up and we're waiting for a part to arrive. It's certainly no fun using a hand crank to retract the living room slide............we had to do this last Sunday...so here we sit and wait.

Guess I'll post this and see how it looks. Will try to post pictures of our travels whenever time permits and I have a clear view to the Southeast for satellite reception.

Later, W&B