Back in Beautiful Oregon Again

Hello again. Our last chapter concluded on Wednesday, July 20^th, when we arrived at the Valley of the Rogue State Park, midway between Medford and Grants Pass, Oregon. This is a very nice park with full hookup, 50 amp sites in a woodsy setting, and we can make reservations for a specific site many months in advance. This is important with all the trees so as to ensure that we get some satellite reception. Our first day we didn't do anything after getting set up.

Thursday, July 21^st, I did a few chores in the morning, washing windows and putting on the sun shades. After lunch we drove the 15 miles back to Medford to do some shopping. We hit Walmart and Costco, which happened to be right next door to each other. After shopping we got a couple of geocaches, but it was a little too hot to spend too much time doing it. We drove back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the day. Friday was a stay at home day. We both got some chores done around the coach. It was still a nice, relaxing day.

Saturday, July 23^rd, we left the coach a little before noon and drove west to Grants Pass, Oregon, about 15 miles or so. We were meeting our friends Ray and Suzie Babcock there for lunch at one of our favorite local restaurants, Taprock Grill. We saw Ray and Suzie on Saturday at the Bullock wedding, but didn't get to spend too much time with them. After they left that area they went to the Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville, about 50 miles north of Grants Pass. Since our time in the area overlapped, we decided to meet for lunch. We had a very nice lunch and were able to have some nice conversation and make some future plans. After lunch we stopped at Winco for a couple of things then headed back to the coach. We stayed in the rest of the day, getting some more chores done and relaxing.

Sunday we left the coach about 11:00 and took a drive to Crater Lake National Park, about 80 miles northeast of our current location. We first visited Crater Lake in 2005 on our very first year of full timing. At one time the spot where Crater Lake is was a 12,000 foot volcano called Mt. Mazama, or at least that's the name modern day geologists gave to the mountain. About 7,700 years ago it blew up, tossing most of the mountain around the surrounding landscape. Eventually the remaining caldera collapsed, creating a hole which filled up over the years with water. It is a very beautiful sight. We didn't spend too much time walking around since it is over 7,000 feet elevation and Jackie does not do well at those altitudes.

We wanted to have lunch at the lodge, which overlooks the lake, but when we got there it was full and they were not taking any more names for a list because they closed in an hour. We ended up with sandwiches from the cafe, but they were OK. We took some pictures and visited the visitor's center before heading back down to the Rogue River area. We also managed to get a couple of geocaches for the day. After we got back to the coach we relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Monday, July 25^th, we went out after lunch and drove to Medford to see a movie. There were not a lot of choices, but we settled on a kid's movie, The Secret Life of Pets. It was an animated film and the theater was filled with kids. I actually enjoyed the movie a lot, as did Jackie. Most of these films have a few “adult” moments in the back story that keep it interesting. And, the kids were pretty well behaved too. After the movie we did a few caches, reaching our 8,100 finds milestone. Yea! We then headed home and relaxed with the TV the rest of the evening. Tuesday we left the park after lunch and drove into Grants Pass to do our laundry. Once the laundry was done we went back and stayed in the rest of the day.

Wednesday, July 27^th, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road by about 10:00 or so, today headed northwest to Bullard's Beach State Park, on the coast near Bandon, Oregon. The trip was about 160 miles, but took longer than normal for that distance because of the roads. We have spent quite a bit of time in Oregon in the last ten years we have been on the road. It is a very nice, beautiful state and we really enjoy being here. However, one downside is that to get almost anywhere in the state you have to travel on winding, sometimes narrow roads, going up and down through mountains. They are pretty drives, but tiring too, especially when handling 45 feet and 38,000 pounds of worth of vehicles.

We arrived at Bullard's Beach, a state park we have stayed in before, about 2:00. We had reservations, so we got in and set up fairly quickly. We chose a spot that only had 30 amp and water, no sewer, but it had good satellite sight lines. We can go five days without a sewer, not so much without a TV. The 30 amp shouldn't be a problem either as it is significantly cooler here on the coast, in the low 60's in fact. Probably not going to be running the A/C much, if at all. After we got set up we just chilled for the rest of the day.

Thursday we left the park about noon and drove into Old Town Bandon to sight-see and have lunch. Bandon is a smallish town, about 3,000 population, located on the Pacific at the mouth of the Coquille River. Old town is located along the banks of the river's estuary inland about a mile from the ocean. Today it is mostly shops and restaurants with a small harbor. We stopped at two harbor side restaurants for lunch, but both were very small with mostly outdoor seating. The wind was blowing and it was quite cold, low 60's, so we opted instead to eat at another place called the Broken Anchor, which also had high Yelp ratings, and had indoor seating.

To our surprise, there was not much seafood on the menu. I had fish and chips, Jackie had fish tacos, about the only items on the menu from the water. Also to our surprise, the food was terrible. It was not remotely hot, the fish was overcooked, and the service was slow. At the end of the meal we mentioned our concerns to the only waitress in the place, and were again surprised to learn that she was the owner. She apologized, told us her chef was off today, and ended up comping the entire meal, including my beer. So, we had mediocre food, but it was free. After eating we spent an hour or so walking through the shops on the two main streets of Old Town. We then did some caching, getting six new finds and one DNF. About 4:00 or so we quit and headed back to the coach where we spent the rest of the evening.

Friday, July 29^th, we went out after lunch to some geocaching. Our first stop was the cache we had DNFed yesterday. This morning I learned that someone else had found it yesterday, and I got an email from the cache owner telling us to look again. This time we did find it. Turns out we had made a bad assumption about the type of container and missed it yesterday. Fixed a DNF, Yea! We then went on to do some sightseeing and cacheing and ended up with a total of nine new finds for the day. Before heading back to the coach we stopped at a local grocery store. Shortly after we got back to the coach our friends Bob and Gloria Baron drove by the coach. Turns out they didn't like the heat in Rogue River, so they left early and are in a different RV park in Bandon. They were just out cruising, so they didn't stay. I made a pot of chilli for dinner and we stayed in the rest of the evening.

Saturday, we left the park after lunch and went out to do some geocaching. This time we headed north to the Coos Bay area. We did a few caches on the way to Coos Bay and then after we got there we made a few stops. We first went to a Verizon store and updated our account. Verizon has introduced some new plans and we were able to get an additional 10GB of data, now a total of 30GB per month, for about the same price as we had before. In addition, they threw in a new 8 inch tablet for less than a dollar. Yea, just what we needed was another computer. We also stopped at Fred Meyers and did some shopping.

Once we were done with our stops we continued caching. We had a pretty bad day, mostly because on one very evil, devious cache hider. He managed to fool us on four consecutive searches. We ended up with four new finds and five new DNFs, our worst showing in a while. Oh well, it keeps things interesting. After caching we headed back south to the park and stayed in the rest of the night.

Sunday, July 31^st, we headed out after lunch and drove back up to Coos Bay because Jackie needed to take the clothes she bought yesterday back and exchange them for a smaller size. Once our business at Fred Meyers was done we did a “Sunday Drive” of the back loop out of Coos Bay, a road that went on or close to the coast most of the way back south to Bandon. We also did a few geocaches, getting three new finds. After we got back to the coach we just relaxed the rest of the day.

Monday, August 1^st, another moving day. We were packed up and on the road by about 11:00, heading north on Highway 101 for South Beach State Park, near Newport, Oregon. The trip was about 116 miles, but it took longer than expected due to traffic and some major road construction between Florence and Newport. The Oregon Coast Road, as Highway 101 is known, is mostly two lane and they are doing some repaving which ended up costing us almost an hour in delays. Oh well, we had reservations, so no big hurry. We finally got settled into our site at the State Park by 3:30 and got set up. It was a long day of driving, so we just stayed in and chilled the rest of the day.

Tuesday we left the coach after lunch and went to the nearby Oregon Coast Aquarium. This is a medium sized private, non-profit aquarium that opened in 1992. We spent about three hours walking around, looking at the tanks and exhibits and watching a variety of educational presentations and feedings. It is a very nice facility and we enjoyed our visit. After the aquarium we did some geocaching in the Newport area. We were able to get four new finds pretty quickly. We did stop by the Elks Lodge but they were not open despite a sign saying they should be. We may try again another day. We then went back to the coach and spent the rest of the evening there.

Wednesday, August 3^rd, we went out about noon and headed into Newport for lunch. We ended up at a place called Georgie's Beachside Grill after being unable to get into a couple of other places due to a shortage of parking. Good thing, because Georgie's turned out to be an outstanding choice. It is right on the beach with great ocean views. The service was good and we didn't even have to wait for a table because we sat in the bar. I had a seafood pasta that was one of the best I have had. Jackie had fish tacos which she said were great. All in all, a wonderful place to eat. After lunch we did some geocaching, getting four new finds. We then went shopping, both at Fred Meyers and at Walmart, before heading back to the coach for the rest of the day.

Thursday we left the coach about noon and headed south on U.S. 101 to the town of Yachats, about 25 miles or so. We are going to meet with Jackie's nephew John Perez. We last saw John a month or so ago in Pismo Beach. After we left Pismo he also went north to Florence, Oregon, to spend the summer up there with some friends. Yachats is about halfway between Florence and Newport, so we decided to meet there for lunch. We arrived at Ona, a very nice ocean front restaurant. John had suggested it because one of his friends worked there and said it was a great place to eat. It was a good recommendation. All three of us had the fish and chips with a cup of clam chowder. The chowder was very good, although thinner than we had the day before. The fish and chips was the best I have ever tasted. It was local rockfish, lightly breaded and then grilled, not fried. It was light, tasty, juicy and outstanding. We had a great lunch and spent about 90 minutes with John before we left. After lunch we did some geocachng on the way back to Newport, getting four new finds. We stopped at a big antique mall in Newport just to look around, and then headed back to the coach. We stayed in the rest of the night.

Friday, August 5^th, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do some more geocaching. We managed to get eleven new finds, along with three DNFs, for the afternoon. We also got in some sightseeing and shopping up in Depoe Bay, one of the beach communities north of Newport. As we were driving through Newport we noticed that traffic was terrible, more so than usual. When we got to the downtown area we saw that one of the big motels downtown, the Shilo Inn, had a huge fire. Nearly all of the two story hotel was destroyed. Checking with news sites later we learned that the fire started in a room just before 6:00 a.m. It was a multi-alarm fire and they called in help from other towns as far away as Florence and Lincoln City, both more than 50 miles distant. Three people were injured, one seriously, and we later learned that they have found four bodies in the wreckage so far, and are still looking. We had a great afternoon and after caching went back to the coach and chilled the rest of the evening.

Saturday, August 6^th, another moving day. We were packed up, dumped and on the road about 11:30. Today we going to Tillamook, Oregon, about 75 miles north of Newport. We have been to Tillamook before, last time a couple of years ago. It is a fun city and we are looking forward to our five day stay there. The traffic was terrible, I guess that's to be expected on a nice Saturday afternoon on the Oregon Coast. We finally made it to the Tillamook Bay City RV Park about 3:00 and quickly got settled into our spot. We have full hookups, 50 amps and satellite access here, yea! We will be here for another five day stay before moving north again.

This also marks a great place to close this chapter and get it published. Until next time, remember that There are three kinds of people in the world. People who make things happen, people who watch things happen and people who say “What happened?” See ya soon.