Thursday..............And We're............

spending our last day in Lincoln City before returning to the sand dunes. Pigged out at "Js" on fish and chips and clam chowder. To date this little restaurant has produced the best fish and chips we found on our Oregon Coast travels this year. It's located on Highway 101, just south of the Outlet Malls............don't go too fast or else you'll zip right past it. It appears to have been an old gas station in the past..........really small but the owner seems to keep pretty busy. We've had rave reviews about his seafood chowder but haven't been there when he had a batch made up. Today he had a pot cooking but it wasn't ready............since we've been there the last three days he told us to stop by later for a free sample. We may give it a try if we don't get sidetracked on something else..............like maybe the casino (???).

Another super day on the coast.............sunny and another 72 degree day! (Actually I don't ever know what the actual temperature is, it just seems 72 degrees is a nice round figure to report.........hopefully it'll keep those desert residents in the Southwest filled with envy!!)

All for now.....................here's another picture of the Oregon coast, just kick back, close your eyes, relax and imagine the cool, 72 degree ocean breeze, brilliant sunshine, no work environment, vibrant scenery and all your cares drifting away with the summer clouds....................now.....open your eyes and take a peek out the window wherever you may be.

Becky and Wayne

Wednesday................And Another Beautiful Day.......

on the Oregon Coast! Yesterday it got a little wet and rained off and on but the sun poked its way past the clouds and all we had today was sunshine and a temperature of 72 degrees! Posting a couple of pictures.......... first one is where we're staying at Devil's Lake State Park in Lincoln City. Today we drove down to Depoe Bay, Oregon to take in the sunshine and ocean views! First stop was at Boiler Bay where we hoped to get a glimpse of a stray whale or too...........no such luck here. Took a few pictures and I fired up the GPSr and lo and behold.....a geocache was hidden about 300 feet away! Becky found that one and then we headed to Depoe Bay where a few more caches were hidden. We had started out to find some clam chowder and then got sidetracks with caching and taking pictures. We found a virtual cache near the seawall and got a bonus also..........there were two whales playing around a few hundred yards off shore. The number six picture is the only one where we were able to get a picture of the whales.............actually all you can see (if you use your imagination a little bit) is the water spout. They would surface, blow and dive back down again so it was difficult trying to get a picture of their backs as they surfaced. We watch them for some time and then continued caching. I think we found 8 of them today. Number 7 picture is of the actual bay at Depoe Bay..............this is what I found on the internet about Depoe Bay:

"Depoe Bay has the smallest natural navigable harbor in the world consisting of six square acres. Because of the proximity to the ocean, fishermen or whale watchers can be from dockside to viewing or fishing in a matter of minutes."

We were too cheap to take a boat out to do more whale watching and fishing really isn't our bag so passed on the boat ride.

One more day at Lincoln City and then we'll make the 30 mile or so run back to Sand Lake for our last weekend in the sand.

Had to take a picture of this "skateboard park" in Depoe Bay............wonder if Trace would like to give it a go???

More later if anything happens. W&B

Monday................... And

we've set up camp at Devil's Lake State Park in Lincoln City, OR. We drove the Suzuki in from Sand Lake yesterday morning to check on availability of a spot at Devil's Lake. It was too early so we fed my "red brothers" at the Chinook Winds Casino for awhile and went back and were lucky to find a vacancy. So right now we're living high on the hog..........electricity, water, cable TV, etc.; but, no internet access. So we're at the library right now.

Got up and did a little geocaching and managed to find 10 more to add to our list. Still lots of easy ones to find in the area so we'll probably do a few each day we're here. Had lunch at "J"s........the best fish and chips in town!! We also sampled the clam chowder and it ranks right up there at the top of the list too. We'll probably make it a daily stop until we leave here on Friday morning to spend one more weekend in the sand dunes at Sand Lake.

Weather nice and sunny..............will probably reach the low 70s before the day is over!!
Sure beats that triple digit stuff.

More later if anything interesting happens. W&B

Friday......................And.............

we've spent a "zillion" dollars on gas this last week. Speed run to Corning and Becky had her return appointment with the surgeon. Everything good so the doc scheduled her for another CT scan in October. Guess these will be periodic checks for a while to monitor everything.

We got back to Vancouver yesterday afternoon and this morning we loaded up the Rhino and Trace and now we're back at Sand Lake for more fun in the sand. Dug, Tami and Cassidy just showed up about half an hour ago and they out in the sand dunes. Doug's friends were supposed to be here by now but they are having car trouble in Newburg, OR so he's trying to call them on his cell phone. No cell phone service here unless you're at the right spot out in the sand dunes.

Nice day today.........sunny and I think the temp hit the low 70s. It's cooling down fast though and will probably get chilly tonight.

I spent some $$$s on a new exhaust system for the Rhino............mainly to quiet it down some 'cause I was flirting with getting a ticket for excessive noise. New system is quiter but I also lost about 3 mph on the top end. Bummer!

We're going to be here: http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=3467
until Monday. Then back to Vancouver for a couple of days then we're coming back down for our last weekend in the sand. The following week is county fair week so Cassidy will be showing a cow and a calf with her 4H Club and Becky and Trace will probably be riding all the rides. I'll just take pictures and watch.

Later, W&B

It's Monday Evening And.................

Becky and I are back in Corning for a couple of days. Dr. appointment on Wednesday afternoon and then we may head back to Washington and grab an overnight somewhere on the road. Our trip down was uneventful.............about the only thing of interest was an almost nude Mt. Shasta. Everytime I'll driven past it there has always been snow on the top. Today it was almost barren. Becky took pictures as we zipped by and will post a couple of them if I can remember.

Gonna meet Bob and Judy for breakfast tomorrow and then they are heading for the beach. We'll wrap up some errands we have here and should be back in Washington on Thursday.

Here's a couple of pictures taken as the sun was going down last Saturday night.

Later. W&B

More Sand Duning On Saturday...............

and the weather was great although the wind did pick up a bit in the afternoon. Wind wasn't all that bad though as it tends to smooth out the sand. We ripped up and down the beach and then proceeded to the hill competition area.........my Rhino looks pretty raggedy but it runs good and left Doug shaking his head to try and figure out where he should spend his moldy old money for things that make it go. We're coming back next weekend after our speed run to California so it'll be interesting to see what he comes up with. We went searching for a cache that Becky and I found on Thursday so the Twerps could find it. Trace didn't have any problems spotting it. Doug and John each made it around this little tree about 7 or 8 times each..........looks like fun but I didn't try it because I had Trace riding with me on the back seat. We headed back to the geocache where "B" and I were skunked yesterday. It took John and Trace about a minute to locate it, John found a Crown Royal bottle that had some trinkets in it and then Trace discovered the cache log in a bottle. Found a really nicely painted Rhino and talked to the driver, he said his friend had it painted from an outfit in San Diego...........for a mere $1,200.00. Guess mine will continue to look ratty.

In the afternoon Charlene and Cassidy took John's Rhino out, Doug and Tami in their Rhino and "B" and I took Trace with us. We had a good time just exploring different areas. We found a crab on the beach that was still alive and kicking. We left him and when we came back we found an old sea gull chowing down. If I hadn't had so much dungness crab last night I might have wrestled the sea gull for him.

We just finished a rib eye and baked potato dinner so we'll probably go back into the sand for a night ride later. Outta here tomorrow. B&W

Friday Finally Arrived And.............

so did John and Charlene, Doug, Tami and the Twerps.

Becky and I went geocaching today, found one in the sand and couldn't locate another one. Today was Seafood Buffet so we did a little caching on the way to Lincoln City. Think we picked up 5 or 6 today........every little number helps for those obsessed with the "numbers".

It was getting dark when we loaded up the three Rhinos and headed for the beach. It didn't take Doug very long to realize that he had to spend some more money to make his "go". My Rhino isn't very pretty, sun faded, scratched up and shows signs of fatigue; however, neither John nor Doug could climb the hills that I did. John has a nitrous oxide set up on his but I still haven't seen him use it. Should be interesting when he does. They both have high intensity lights on their Rhinos and these are goodies I should invest in if I do any more night riding. They sure do light things up.

Well, I got my dungness crab fix at the casino and we gambled for quite awhile and we managed to lose only $8.00........not bad entertainment for a couple of hours.

More tomorrow if anything happens.............gotta go look for that cache again that eluded us. It could be buried in the sand but we'll take the Twerps and turn them loose on it.

Here's a few pics of today. W&B

About 1923 Thursday And We................................

made it about a 110 miles down the road to Sand Lake to play in the sand dunes for the next couple of day. Doug, Tami and the Twerps will arrive tomorrow sometime. We didn't have a reservation and managed to find a spot that allows both satellite dishes to be set up so we're doing OK............I got my MTV and "B" wasn't without her internet for long enough to have affected her. We're both happy!

Took a little tour in the Rhino all the way to the back 40 and then came on home. This small portion of the Oregon sand dunes isn't very large but close enough to let you get your "sand fix" if you need one. Also, there are 4 geocaches located nearby, two more were placed in the dunes and two on the access roads so we'll probably go hunt them down tomorrow. Also Friday is Seafood Buffet at the Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City. It's about 30 miles or so away so we'll be driving down tomorrow to get our Dungness Crab Fix and we might even pick up some fresh oysters to put on the bar-b-que. Had a dozen of them the last time we were here..........unfortunately only 7 of them worked. Shoulda asked for some of my money back.

Becky was snapping pictures so am including some of them............if anyone from Arizona checks this out you'll be happy to learn that I'll probably be freezing my tail off.........it was about 68 degrees when we arrived and as soon as the sun fades away the temp will drop rapidly. Heck, there may even be ice on the windshield when we wake up in the morning!

Anyways, here's where our abode will be for the next few days, some pictures of the beach and sand dunes and we found a smooth area of sand where we could open up the Rhino (should have dropped into two-wheel drive and maybe we could have reached that elusive "50"). Last picture is the famous Haystack Rock that is located off shore from Pacific City. I suspect it's about 6 miles away as the crow flies.

Later, W&B

Thinking About Leaving Paradise Point...............

Park sometime tomorrow, loading up the Rhino and driving down to Sand Lake for the weekend. Weather forecast is good so maybe this trip we won't encounter the wind that we found at Coos Bay. I had an appointment at the VA Hospital this morning.........my CPAP machine was kinda acting up so Wednesday is the day they take care of that stuff. I walked in, waited about 10 minutes, told them what I thought the problem was and they picked up my own machine, checked me out on a new one, gave me some supplies and we were gone in about a total of 30 minutes. Nice to do business with them!!

We got home and decided to do our domestic chores so off to Woodland and the laundermat. I've been just sitting here "thinking" about tearing down the satellite dishes and stowing everything away..............as a matter of fact I've been "thinking" about it for the last hour or so.............maybe it can wait until tomorrow morning. No hurry to get to Sand Lake since I don't think we'll have any problem with finding a campsite.

Maybe more later from the sand dunes. W&B

Did A Little Caching Yesterday..........

with Larry and Audrey at the Milo McIver State Park near Estacada, OR. Nice day, warm and sunny and we saw another nice Oregon park that has a campground. Have to file it away as a nice quiet area where we can park the M/H for a few days.

Sunday we drove into Vancouver and found Doug working on his new Rhino, Tami and the Twerps were off to a birthday party and we never saw them. Yesterday Larry took us on a little tour of one of his caching areas...........he had already found the caches in the park and watched as we stumbled along, giving us hints when he could remember where the caches were hidden. Outside the park we found a historic Little Red Schoolhouse, last used about 1939 and since restored. It was complete with the little red outhouse out back. We revisited the Original Stash Cache, the spot where geocaching started back in 2000, took a few pictures of the plaque and displayed our geocoins which were given to us by "Jeep'en Jumpers", a frustrated cacher in Yuma who is presently swealtering in triple digit heat!!! Becky needed a picture taken of her walking stick "Frankinbears" at the holy shrine.

Remainder of the pictures show some of our caching finds. We met two old farts at the Original Stash Cache and shot the breeze with them for a while. One, "Old Grouch" was from Iowa and his friend "Tincuphunter" was a local Oregon cacher. We had crossed paths with them several times during the day. Becky will take a picture of anything...............she found a humongous, dead, timber rattlesnake that she took a picture of...........at least I think it was a gigantic timber rattler, although it could have been a garden snake.

Super nice day!!! W&B

Saturday Evening.......................

finds us back at Paradise Point State Park. We pulled in about 1500 this afternoon, got my MTV up and running and the internet as well. We'll be here until the 20th or 21st and then make a speedrun to California to keep a doctor appointment for "B". Should be back on the Oregon Coast for more sand duning the weekend of the 25th.

The rest of the troops headed straight back to Vancouver and "B" and I drove 101 up the Oregon Coast. We had planned on stopping at any state park where there was an opening.........never found a vacancy so we spent Friday night at the Spirit Mountain Casino. Had dinner there and we then contributed $10.00 to my poor Red Brothers. Breakfast at the casino this morning and we were losing some $$$s, winning some back and finally got on the road when we were 20 cents AHEAD!

Weatherman ses it's going to be hot for the rest of the weekend and then cool down to the low 80s for the rest of the week. No plans for next week............hoping to get hooked up with one of our Arizona buds, who's in Gresham, sometime to pad geocache numbers.

More later if anything interesting happens. W&B

Oh, click on this link to see where we are, we're users 3467.

http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=3467

Wednesday and Thursday...............

found us still trying to avoid heavy winds.........a task that's impossible here, the winds always blow; but, they are worse than usual. Got a picture of John actually tending to their dog, Lucy, instead of yelling at her, while Trace stuffed marshmellows down his face. Wednesday morning we all headed for Reedsport, Or since the Twerps wanted to try out the skateboard park there. They skated and some of us went searching for geocaches. Found 3 of them in Reedsport, 1 in Winchester Bay and a couple along the highway. Trace found one under a bunch of bushes but there were no "treasures" to trade. He made several trades and finally ended up with a figurine of a turtle dove.............go figure, he had a nice frog at one time???

We stopped alongside a view point on a cliff and Cassidy and Trace decided they'd jump off........it took them about 20 minutes to climb back up. Trace found a cache hidden under a boardwalk on the beach, he stepped on it and we all yelled "that's it!" Like those plastic containers. Cassidy found a cache near the Discovery Center and we spent some time browsing around there. A small restaurant had a humongous sign stating they had "Award Winning Chowder". I talked everyone in giving it a try. I gave the Old Crone in charge so much crap about when did they win the award, is the same cook still cooking, is there a money back guarantee, do I get a senior discount, etc. etc. etc. I actually thought she was going to toss my ass out of there. Anyway, the chowder was just "so so" and I didn't have the intestinal fortitude to advise her of same. I quietly paid the bill and slunk out of there.

Today we had to maintain tradition by driving down to Bandon, OR to buy new sweatshirts for the Twerps and stop for fish and chips. Tami and Becky had a big crab sandwich while Cassidy scoffed down some clam chowder. Trace stuck with his usual corndog. We messed around the pier, took a scenic drive along the shore line and finally came back to the sand dunes. Wind still blowing..................too much for this old guy to venture out into the sand so am updating Blog instead. Tomorrow we'll be heading back to Vancouver. Becky and I may drive up the coast and spend an overnight in Lincoln City...........or wherever we can find a vacancy in one of the Oregon State Parks. Rest of the troops will be driving straight back to Vancouver.

Here's some pics of our last two days. Later. W&B

Tuesday..................

we did a little caching yesterday, I think we found seven. The troops called us when they were about 25 miles away so back to the dunes we went to arrive shortly after they did. We found some caches tucked away in the brambles and you can see the results of my encounter with them. Becky and Cassidy started counting fire plugs when they noticed that they received some artistic touchs. We found the last cache in a park, Becky is holding it, and the guys who painted the fire plugs were hard at work painting another one. We wanted to talk to them but they finished up their artwork before we found the cache.........there's probably a story behind the painted fireplugs but guess that'll just have to wait for another day. The troops got everything unloaded and rigs parked, they went for a short ride and Becky and I went down town for some dinner and entertainment at the casino. Weather still sunny but wind is still blowing. Bummer.

Today we went out into the sand dunes to look around. Unknown to us at the time we made our reservations.............the Oregon Sand Fest was being held this week. They've got rigs parked all over the sand and vendors selling their junk. It costs $35.00 for an wrist band to enter the closed area............a little steep for my blood. The Twerps wanted to play in one of the "ponds" so we all drove out there and messed around. After awhile Doug managed to get his "idiot proof" kite in the air. Wind was really blowing hard and I thought it would drag Cassidy over the sand dunes............she doesn't have much beef on her butt for ballast. I worked on my sun tan while others played in the water and flew kites. I decided to give Doug's 4 wheeler a spin and after a brief outting I brought it back. I now remember why I only drive things with a steering wheel. We stopped by the entrance toSand Fest, confirmed that it cost $35.00 and then came back to camp. Doug met someone he used to work with who is the DJ at Sand Fest and he might possibly score some wrist bands for us. That would be the only way I'd attend.

More later if anything interesting happens. W & B & The Troops

Monday Morning.............

and we're at the sand dunes, Coos Bay, Oregon. Cassidy, Becky and I left Vancouver about noon on Saturday and took our time getting down here. We made a detour to Florence, OR and spent the night there at the port RV park. Got my TV hooked up when we arrived at the sand dunes yesterday but the wind was blowing pretty hard so didn't set up the internet until this morning. Doug, Tami, Trace are on the road and will probably get here early this afternoon. Nice, bright and sunny and the wind has calmed down, weather forecast calls for low 70s the remainder of our stay here. Here's some pictures of our last couple of days.

At Florence we drove out to the South Jetty and found an old pier extending out into the river. A seal was swimming around so we watched him for a while and then Cassidy and I found a rope tied onto the end of the pier. We pulled it up and it turned out to be a crab trap with a couple of nice crabs in it. We shoulda stole them. We found some great fish and chips in Florence, toured Old Town and kicked back with cable TV for the night. Yesterday morning we headed to the Hot Rod Grill for breakfast. A bunch of old car are scattered about and a statue, firmed bolted down, of Big Boy. A 1950 Ford is in the center of the restaurant where you can sit and eat. After that we drove up to Sea Lion Caves; but, we were too cheap to pay the price to take the elevator down to the caves. Becky did that last year.

Took pictures of the "famous" lighthouse...............it's so famous that I can't remember the name of it. Heceta Lighthouse, I think. Here's a pic of where we stayed in Florence and a pic of the bridge on the south end of Florence on 101. We drove to Charleston Basin to look for some fresh crab yesterday...........no luck at all, they had crab early in the morning but were sold out when we arrived. Man said it was too windy for the boats so they might have some more crab later in the week. We'll just have to call them. Crab was $6.99 a pound, cooked...............I remember when we paid $2.99 a pound a couple of years ago. We went to the Casino and had some clam chowder and while I lost $5.00 Becky and Cassidy strolled the boardwalk and took pictures. We drove down to the beach and Cassidy and I wedged a dime in a crack on one of the posts..........we'll check it next year to see if it's still there. Wind was blowing............as you can see. Here's where we're parked waiting for the crazies to arrived with the sand vehicles.

More later if anything interesting happens. W B & C

Recovering from North West Crud...........

and we ventured to Portland yesterday about noon to pick up the Twerp from his skateboarding class. Managed to get lost..........it's been a loooong time since I prowled that area of Portland.......about 36 years to be exact.... when I was stationed at the Navy Recuiting Office in downtown Portland. Anyway we found the place and this morning we got up nice and early to take him to his class at 0900. Cassiday hung around with the old folk today...........said her mother wasn't going to take her to work again today........never figured that one out. Maybe the Twerp will fold under more interrogation. We had time to burn before my doctor appointment so we toured NW Portland and found the old statue of Paul Bunyon. He used to be in a different location and the plaque indicated that he was refurbished and relocated in the mid 80s. Still a nice greeting to visitors to Portland.

We picked up Trace about 1300, made a stop at Wally World and then to Doug's house for the rest of the afternoon. I went in to the local clinic to get xrays taken of my knees as my doc figures the next step is a knee replacement. She zapped me with some cortisone injections and said she'd let me know results of xrays. Guess I'll have to get it done as I plan on taking up skateboarding as soon as possible. I'm even into the lingo.............like ollies, truck, fakies, goofyfoot, etc. etc. etc. A little more hanging around the skate pits and I'll be talking like a pro!

Later, no plans for the Fourth. W&B

Tuesday And All I've Done..................

for the past two days is spy on the neighbors as they come and go. Sunday evening I came down with the "Washington Crud" and haven't left the M/H since then. Maybe I can get out later this afternoon.............will probably have to as the old holding tanks are filling up. This state park is nice but no sewer connections at the campsites.................can't complain though 'cause the price is right. Better I get over the crud now before we leave for Coos Bay on Saturday. Last year at this same time I got sick when we went to Coos Bay so didn't get to play much in the sand dunes. Will be OK this time though.

Becky doing great but still has tendency to tire herself out too much. At least she rests whenever she feels the need.

Was supposed to be doing "grandfatherly" duties this week..........maybe will be able to pick up on them tomorrow and see if Trace is learning some new stuff from his skateboarding camp.

Later. W&B