Arrived Vancouver Shortly After Noon...........

today and we're parked in front of Dug and Tami's house. Will move to Paradise Point tomorrow afternoon. Got my MTV and air card working so we're both happy. Went to Burger King with Dug and kids for supper.........think Tami had a meeting with her 4H Ladies who are getting ready for the county fair in August. We'll miss this year's fair.

Gotta get my driver's license renewed and if I can get up early enough will try to arrive at the license office when they open at 0800. Saw looonnng lines there when I registered the trailer so will try to beat daily rush. Then it's probably laundry day before we head for Paradise Point. Might try to wash some of the crud off the M/H if I got time tomorrow...........shoulda just found a truck wash and drove it through. Maybe it'll wait until we get back to Corning, got about 3 truck washes there since it a mid-point refueling stop between NW and LA.

Nothing planned for the next 9 or 10 days.........we'll just play it by ear and kick back.

Later, W&B

Still Sitting at Tugman.........

but plan on heading back to Vancouver tomorrow. Was going to drive up to Florence for an overnight at the casino parking lot; but, we drove to Florence today so Becky could get her gambling "fix". Three Rivers Casino is pretty nice, remember when it was just a quonset hut, the hut is now a Bingo Hall. The slots were beating me up pretty badly and I finally found a semi-generous machine. Played it for quite awhile and I finally got $5.00 AHEAD. That's when my better judgment kicked in and I quit. Becky was complaining that she was using her "own" money so guess she didn't fare too well. Her winnings from the Mill Casino are rapidly depleating I guess. She had my sympathy.

We had breakfast in Reedsport at a restaurant where we stopped yesterday and found a cache. Wasn't hungry then so we gave their breakfast a try. Not too shabby.........the portions were large. I'd recommend a stop at Bedrock if you're ever passing through Reedsport.

Grabbed a couple of caches on our way back to Tugman so guess we're in for the rest of the day. We're listening to pine cones falling on top the rig.........a really big un bounced off the roof a few minutes ago and it sounded like it was coming through the ceiling.

That's about it for today. If we get underway at a decent hour tomorrow we should be in Vancouver around 1300-1400. W&B

Second Post For Sunday.......

as Blogger wouldn't let me post another pictures. On our way to Reedsport we were speeding along and saw this dude pushing something in a little cart..........he had a sign stating he was "Walk'n Across America". Becky ses, "Was that a Pig??" Hell, I don't know so I said I'd find a place to turn around and we'd check him out. Pulled up in front of him and found that he was trying to walk across America to bring awareness to Cancer victims. He certainly was pushing a pig in his little cart and her name is Petunia. She's 2 1/2 years old. We chatted for awhile and I contributed a little assistance for his walk. He started in Cannon Beach on May the lst. He didn't seem to be quite that "nuts" after talking to him. We wished him luck and drove on toward Reedsport. He has started a Blog which is: http://jason-blanton.blogspot.com/

I'll keep track of him and Petunia to see if he gives it up or not. He's had wind and rain to contend with so it'll interesting to see how he does when it gets COLD. It looks like his cart may give up the ghost before he does..........horrors, does that mean Petunia will also have to walk?

Sunday (I think)................

Kinda published these in reverse order; but, what the hell, nobody but me knows that! We picked up a few caches in Reedsport, Oregon, the easier ones to get to. Didn't find the one near the totem pole so we headed for the grocery store after that and then back to Tugman. Another nice day on the Oregon Coast!!

Found a couple of caches south of Winchester Bay and the last one was on the dock in Winchester Bay. It was close to a little eatery........I suggested fish and chips; but, "B" was complaining about eating a late breakfast so wasn't ready for lunch.........even though was about 1300. End result...........I didn't get to try a new fish 'n chips place! The sacrifices I make!

These are the dunes south of Winchester Bay. We stopped at the Umpaqua Lighthouse and could see the dunes down below us so wandered around and found the right road into the dunes. Stopped a talke to a deputy sheriff and inquired about the dunes. He said it was about 10,000 acres and told us to check out the various campgrounds when I told him we always camp at Horsfall. These pictures we took from the road..........the dunes look considerable steeper and the sheriff said that there weren't as many flat areas as Horsfall.

Pictures taken from the Umpqua Lighthouse viewing platform. This was the jawbone of a humpback whale found on the beach some years ago. We later found a cache down on the beach..........it was getting pretty well battered up due to salt and weather. I managed to "skim" 67 cents from this one!! A Bonanza!

First stop leaving Tugman, we are very close to Eel Lake so drove over to check it out before we headed to Reedsport from some grub. There was a cache located under the viewing area at the lighthouse; but, it hadn't been found some some time. "B" looked around under the viewing platform and came up empty handed also.

That was most of our day today. W&B

Left Casino Parking Lot about 1330..........

and drove up the road to William Tugman State Park. Got set up, just barely fit due to extra length of trailer..........anyway nice to have electricity and water. The air card is working OK with booster, not as fast as in other reception areas; but, better than nothing. I mulled over trying to set up the portable dish as the dome wasn't picking up anything........too many trees. I finally found a little hole in the trees and since I wasn't doing anything else I figured I might as well waste some time trying to try and make it work. I quickly found the 119 sat. since we didn't change any settings from the sand dunes; but, am unable to lock onto the 110 sat. Oh well, half of my MTV is better than nothing.

Tried our luck again at casino before we left and I managed to recoup $52.00.........."B" didn't look too happy so we had some fish 'n chips and clam chowder and left.

Pigged out at the seafood buffet last night...........really pigged out and I felt miserable until about 2200..........such is the price one pays. Buffet was cheaper this year, $35.00 for two and that's because we were early birds so got a $5.00 discount. I filled up two chowder bowls with dungness crab, slopped butter on them and proceeded to stuff myself...........at the same time I was gobbling down fried oysters, shrimp, scallops, crab cakes and then started on round two. Finally topped everything with a chocolate sundae and waddled out of there. Lost some more money and called it a night.

Don't know what we'll do the next couple of days..........maybe some geocaching (???).

W&B

Sitting in the Mill Casino Parking Lot.........

for tonight and then we move out to Tugman State Park tomorrow. Dug and JP5 headed back toward the 90+ degree temperatures of Portland/Vancouver this morning. We're basking in the 70s!

Only downfall, we've already tried our luck at the slots.........right now I've given most of their money back to them. Will try again later after we enjoy the Friday night Seafood Buffet. As we were walking into the casino we talked to a guy carving a bear out of a big block of ice........the bear will be the centerpiece for the buffet. I think Becky took a picture of the carver and bear. On our way back to the M/H we saw that there were several blocks of ice melting way. I had a cooler in the back of the Suzy so I scoffed them up and put them in my Pepsi cooler. Ice outta last for a couple of days...........maybe more since we're enjoying cool temperatures!!

Becky headed for the shopping mall...........I didn't think I lost anything there so I'm kicking back with my MTV and waiting for her to get back so we can be first in line at the buffet. They also give you a discount if you arrive the first 30 minutes when the buffet opens.

Maybe we'll try to do a little caching while we staying at Tugman. Looks like we'll be orphans for one day before our reservation at Paradise Point on Wednesday.......maybe we'll chug up the road to Florance and spend an overnight at the Three Rivers Casino Parking Lot..........that is if we have any money left after Coos Bay.

Later. W&B

Made It Through Thursday.............

On Wednesday we headed for our annual trip to Bandon, just Becky, Tami, me and the Twerps. It was the annual "get grandpa to buy everyone sweatshirts day"...............and "get grandpa to buy lunch too" day. Glad it's only an annual affair. We had fish n chips, clam chowder and a crab something or other. Watched the crabbers trying to catch some dungness on the pier but they didn't seem to be having any luck. An old seal showed his head briefly and then we headed back to Coos Bay to do some more duning. See Becky's Blog for more dune pictures..........I can't drive and take pictures at the same time........... http://havebagdotravel.blogspot.com/

Today we headed out to one of the many little lakes and the crazies had to do some wading. Skipped driving to the beach on this morning trip; but, later the Twerps, Lori, Dug and I finally made it to the beach. Beach was overcast and kind cool. Later we found a nice spot on top of the hill and it looks like the troops flaked out on Trace and I.

Later B and I drove into town and hit the casino..........wow, second day in a row we left with more money then we arrived with.

Gonna start packing up tomorrow and the "crazies" are heading back to the land of "HOT" while Becky and I will spend another three days in the area. Will leave the sand dunes on Saturday and then we have a reservation at Tugman State Park. We'll miss the heat wave in Vancouver and we'll be able to take in the seafood buffet on Friday and maybe again on Saturday. Last year it was great and hope it remains just as good this year.

All for now. W&B

Fourth of July and Coos Bay..........

Spent 4th of July and Tami at Dug's friends house............we ate and blew up fireworks!

Finally made it to Coos Bay shortly after noon yesterday and briefly torn up the sand..........our main ride for today took us about 12+ miles through the sand and finally to the beach. Cassidy and Trace's little Polaris RZR did OK in the sand with some sand tires. Worked much better than the tires they had at Sand Lake. We spent considerable time messing around the beach, the kids picked up sand dollars and sea shells and then we went to another campground located next to the beach. There's a little viewing area built on top of the sand which we visited several years ago. Back then I placed a dime into a crack on top of one of the posts.............surprise, surprise........it was still there when I checked it today! We could see the waves bring in OIL onto the beach. One picture kinda shows the oil; but, really doesn't show it all that well. Could the Gulf Oil spill have reached the Oregon Coast already?

After our ride I went back into the dunes by myself looking for some Polaris RZRs to race.........didn't find any. Went back out with the kids later and finally called it a day about 1600. Then Becky, Tami, Charlene and I had to go into town and get our "gambling fix". Becky cashed in a fistfull of monies and I even left with $72.00 of their money. Now if we could just stay away we'd be OK. Fat Chance!

That about catches us up...........weather is great, sunny and the winds have calmed down.......supposed to hit the 80s the next couple of days..........that's unusual for the Oregon coast. We'll have to wait and see what the day brings tomorrow.

We need to make our Bandon run, maybe tomorrow, for sweat shirts and fish and chips........or maybe we'll skip it, if we do it'll save me some money. I won a bit at the casino; but, not enough!

Later, W&B

Sitting In Front of Dug's House.........

and kinda waiting for it to get dark so we can start blowing up the neighborhood. Got here around 1100 this morning, loaded up the trailer so we'll be ready to leave Monday. Here's pic of my new trailer........it even had room for Tami's 4 wheeler in back of the Rhino. Had to go get a new drop down hitch 'cause the trailer was sitting too low in the back. Need one that drops a little more than 5 inches; but, that was the only one I could find. It'll work for now.

Cassidy and Trace and two of the neighborhood kids are patiently waiting for it to get dark so snapped a couple of pictures of them sitting in the garage.

Went in the house and Ollie, their Miniture Schnauzer, always comes running, jumps on me and then crashes on the arm of the easy chair. Got a couple of pictures of him too.

We got our laundry done this afternoon so nothing left to do except kick back, pig out for the 4th and shoot off fireworks.

Later. W&B

Friday Comes To An End..........

and we haven't been doing too much the last couple of days except kick back and chow down. We did have some rain off and on; but, overall weather pretty nice.

Did our grocery shopping for our Coos Bay run and all we have left to do is load up the trailer and we'll leave early Monday morning.

Went over to Portland today to visit Otto's...........they make their own sausage, hot dogs, summer sausage and all kinds of goodies and the hot dogs are pretty good. Otto's was featured on one of the Diners Drive-In and Dives episodes when Guy F. was in Portland. Interesting little market and they have a bar b que going outside the store where a guy is grilling hot dogs and frankfurters........we scoffed up on two hot dogs and then went into the store to buy some for the 4th and Coos Bay. I had another one before we left. Pretty good; but, I guess I was just hungry as we did some more up for supper at Dug's house this evening. They were better at Otto's........maybe because they were done on charcoal and I did ours on a Weber gas grill.

Gotta leave Paradise Point tomorrow so we'll camp out in front of Dug's house tomorrow and Sunday. Going to one of their friends house on Sunday for the 4th celebration. We stocked up on fireworks so will take them along. I finally took the Twerps to a fireworks stand and they were pretty easy on me............I even bought some mortars for myself that were supposed to be the "Biggest and Loudest"...........well I found out later that I didn't really buy them. That possibly needs some explanation. I walked in and asked if they were going to give me a "Senior Discount". Some little girl at the door hunted down the boss and the boss lady said "Yes, we can do that". So we loaded up on goodies and then I proceeded to the checkout and I began working on the cashier about my "Senior Discount"...........told her the boss lady said "OK", then they had to hunt the boss lady down and she showed up and said she told me I'd get a discount. In the meantime I'm BSing with the cashier and she rings up the stuff and puts it in a box..........I tell her I got a bum knee and can't carry all that stuff. She looks for someone to help me take the box of goodies to the car. I tell I'll get Dug to haul them out. The Boss Lady shows up and deposits some fountains and other stuff in my box and that becomes my "Senior Discount". I thank them profusely, pay my bill and then I get out of there. It wasn't until hours and miles later that I discovered that they hadn't charged me for my "Big Bad Mortar Shells". I finally came to the conclusion that they were also a part of my Senior Discount. I was very grateful that they were so nice to "Old Folks". As my friend, Larry, would say..........."A little misdirection never hurts". Thanks Larry for the advice.

That's about it for our last two days. Happy Fourth of July to all!

W&B

Damn Near 0300 On Thursday...........

and I'm wide awake.........real bummer! I was watching my MTV and dozed off at some point or other.......now can't get back to sleep.

Yesterday we finally got the trailer in Portland and now it's parked in front of Dug's house. We'll be driving in on Saturday when our reservation at Paradise Point is up and stay at Dug and Tami's for the 4th. Head for Coos Bay on the 5th and will play in the sand dunes until the 10th. Everyone else will head back for Vancouver and Becky and I have a 3 day reservation at William Tugman State Park. It's only about 14 miles or so from the sand dunes so we'll just kick back there with electric and water hookups. Best seafood buffet on the coast is at the Mill Casino so we'll probably do that on Friday and Saturday. Hope it's still as good as it was last year. Can't beat the fresh dungness crab.

Well, would try to get to sleep again; but, have an old Randolph Scott movie on the tube so may as well watch that.........maybe I'll doze off again.

Later. W & B

Bummer.....Never Made It To Ape Cave........

today either. I got up about 0500 this morning and found that I had to stick pretty close to the bathroom the better part of the morning. Finally, about noon, I figured I could venture out so Becky and I drove over to Portland for some "shopping". Finally finalized a deal for a new utility trailer, got it licensed and I should pick it up some time tomorrow. Will get it in time to load it up for our annual run to Coos Bay for our week in the sand.

We were going to try to make the Ape Cave run with Wayne and Phyllis tomorrow; but, they are packing up a day early and pointing their way toward Seattle. Probably a good idea to go now and they'll be settled in so they take in Geowoodstock for the long weekend. Don't envy them too much.........it's been awhile since I fought Seattle traffic and I'm sure it hasn't improved. Would like to drive up there on Saturday; but, too much to do to get ready for CB.

Stopped at Dug and Tami's and filled up on bar-b-que ribs before we headed back to Paradise Point. How to get out of there as Trace was working on me to take him to the fireworks stand. I'll let him stew until Saturday and then I'll probably break down and blow my allowance on 4th of July goodies. W&B