Running South from Northern Oregon to San Diego

Hello again. Our last episode concluded on Thursday, August 15^th, while we were parked in the Neskowin Creek RV Resort in Neskowin, Oregon. Neskowin is a small beach community of less than 200 people on the North central coast of Oregon, about halfway between Tillamook on the North and Newport on the South. We are about a week into our three week stay here at the resort. Friday was a stay at home day. I got some chores done around the coach but we didn't go anywhere.

Saturday, August 17^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and driving into the village of Neskowin. The town is almost exclusively residential, with the “village” consisting of a large resort hotel and golf course, a small store and a post office. We went there for their weekly Saturday farmer's market. There were probably 18 vendor tents set up in the parking lot, the majority of which were food related. We did get some excellent local fruits and vegetables, as well as some more cheese. We have cheese, lots of cheese. It seems that fruits and vegetable grow half again as big as anywhere else we have been, but they are also so much tastier than the stuff that comes from outside the country. After the market we toured around some of the local residential areas and got one geocache. We wanted to get at least one cache today because it is International Geocaching Day and we get a souvenir for our geocaching page. Yea! We then drove into Lincoln City for some lunch. We ended up wandering around Lincoln City for a while looking for a good place. Because this is a tourist area the weekend traffic is terrible and it is hard to make left turns or get turned around to go the other way. We finally found a place called the Wildflower Grill which turned out to be an excellent choice. We sat on the back patio, which overlooks a creek, however this time of year the creek is pretty much dried up and it is more of a small swamp. I had a Philly cheese steak which was one of the best I have had. Jackie had a nice Cobb salad. After lunch we went to the Chinook Winds Casino, which is right in the middle of Lincoln City. It is an Indian casino, but very modern and nice. We gamed for an hour or so, then went back to the coach and spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Sunday, August 18^th, was another stay at home day. We got a few things done, but mostly just relaxed. Monday we left the coach about 11:00 and drove South about 35 miles to Newport, Oregon for the day. Newport is a fairly large coastal city with a population of about 11,000. It is also the closest Walmart to where we are parked. We stopped for lunch at a beach-side cafe called Nye Beach Cafe and had another nice lunch. After lunch we did try to get one geocache that was on the beach, but we were unable to find it. We drove around and explored town a little, then went to Walmart for some supplies. After Walmart we started back North, stopping in Lincoln City so we could get pedicures. After getting our toenails taken care of we headed back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the evening.  As a side note, I saw a very interesting and unique RV in the RV park this morning while doing my walk.  It is a 1968 Ultravan, a smallish aluminum and fiberglass class A coach that is powered by a Chevy Corvair engine.  It has been nicely restored and was there for the weekend with a family.  I did some research and found that there were less than 500 of these made from 1962 to 1969 and there are very few examples left on the road.  This would be a great vehicle to travel to classic car shows with.

Tuesday we left the coach about 1:00 and drove to Lincoln City to go to the movies. We went to see Good Boys, which is a comedy about three boys who have been friends since kindergarten and have just started in Junior High School. They are all three basically good kids, but to try and fit in, and deal with their budding puberty, are trying to be “bad” kids. They suck at it, which is where the funny comes in. No big name stars, the only face I recognized in the whole movie was old SNL cast member Will Forte who played one of the kid's dad. It was silly and not an Oscar contender, but we like silly and enjoyed the movie. After the movie we stopped at the Outlet Stores in Lincoln City and did some shopping. We got a few things, then headed back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, August 21^st, was a stay at home day. We picked today because the weather forecast called for rain today, and it didn't disappoint. We had light rain on and off all day. No storms, no downpour, just a steady drizzle. I got several projects done inside the coach, including one that I had been trying to fix for almost a year. Those familiar with air brakes on large vehicles, trucks or motor homes, know that the parking brake is almost always a large plunger that you push in, or down, depending on the mounting, to activate the parking brake. What is does is cut the air pressure to the rear brakes and the internal springs lock the brakes. Pull it out and the air returns and the brakes release. As part of that system there is a warning tone, a very annoying beep, that goes off if either the transmission is in gear and the brake is on, or the brake is not on and the transmission is not in gear. In some motor homes it will also go off if the jacks are still down and you release the parking brake. This is controlled by an electrical switch on the bottom of the plunger assembly that tells the engine computer whether the parking brake is on or off. Since, in normal use, the parking brake gets “cycled” a lot, this switch has a tendency to wear out. When it does the damn parking bell with continue to beep, even when everything is normal, jacks up, vehicle in drive and brake off. Ours has been doing this intermittently for over a year. We have had this issue twice before in the 14 year life of the coach, so I know HOW to fix it, I just couldn't find the part. I couldn't find it online, mostly because I guess I didn't know what to look for. An RV mechanic in Las Vegas couldn't figure out which switch to use. Finally I got a replacement from the manufacturer a week or so ago in Coburg (see previous blog) and today I was able to replace the switch. Not a hard job, only took about a half hour, but you had to have the part. I also replaced our toilet seat and did some other small chores. As a reward for my hard work Jackie made a nice chili relleno casserole for dinner. Yum.

Thursday, August 22^nd, we left the coach after lunch and drove into Lincoln City to visit some of the many antique stores in the area. We spent a couple of hours looking at stuff, but didn't buy anything. After we were done we headed back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the day. Friday we went out after lunch for an afternoon of local caching. In a few hours we had a dozen new finds and two DNFs. One of the finds was a milestone, number 9,600. Closing in on the 10K mark, Yea! After caching we went back to the RV park and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Saturday, August 24^th, our last full day here in Neskowin. We went out after lunch and drove to Lincoln City and the Chinook Winds Casino for a car show. There were a lot of really cool cars in the parking lot. Jackie looked at a few with me, then went into the casino to game. I spent about an hour looking at cars, then also went into the casino. Neither of us won anything, but we had a good time. After the car show we went back to the coach and I spent some time cleaning up outside and getting ready to leave tomorrow.

Sunday, August 25^th, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road by about 10:30, basically heading south and east on the same route that we took to get here. We arrived back in Coburg and the Eugene Kamping World RV park about 1:30. We got set up and relaxed for a bit, then left about 5:00 to visit with some of our Pahrump friends who happened to be in the area. Dick and Millie Duffin were across the road at the old Monaco Service Center, now owned by REV, the big RV company that has Fleetwood, Monaco, American Coach and several others. The Duffins have an old American Coach and like to use the company run service centers for repairs. Another couple who we know from Pahrump, Jim and Paulette Woolridge, were also in the area, at a service center in Eugene getting some work done on their coach. The six of us got together for cocktails and conversation in the shade at the REV center. We talked for an hour and a half, then we and the Duffin's went across the street to the cafe at the TA truck stop for some dinner. Jim and Paulette had to get back to their coach, so they didn't go to dinner with us. We had a nice dinner and afterwards we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Monday, August 26^th, I was up early and headed to Northwest RV Supply on the south side of Eugene to pick up the new screen door that I discovered in their “junk yard” two weeks ago when we came through Eugene. I didn't want to buy it then because I wanted to measure our door to be sure it was the right size and I didn't have time to go back to get it. They held it for me and this morning I took off our screen door and put it in the car. Jackie didn't go because there was no room with a seven foot steel screen door on the passenger side. I got to Northwest RV supply when they opened and checked my door against the one they had and it was identical. I bought it, put both doors back in the car and headed back home. By lunch time I had the new door cleaned up (it had been sitting outdoors for a couple of years) and installed on the coach. Still needs some adjusting and I need to take the paper off of the Plexiglas panels, but it fits perfectly. After lunch we went out and did a couple of geocaches, then went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the night.

Tuesday, August 27^th, we were on the road about 10:00, heading south to Medford for the night. We arrived at the Jackson County RV Park around 1:00 and settled in for our one night stay. We didn't even unhook the car. We stayed in for the rest of the day. Wednesday was another travel day. We left Medford early, about 9:30, because it was going to very hot, over 100 in the area, and we had to climb over the Siskiyou mountain range between Oregon and California. Our coach is prone to overheating on long climbs in hot weather. We made it over the pass without having to stop and cruised the rest of the 160 mile trip to Redding. We arrived at the Redding Elks Lodge around 1:00 and found there were plenty of spots available. We had been a little concerned because the lodge doesn't take reservations and this weekend is the Labor Day holiday weekend. We got parked and set up for our six day stay here in Redding. We stayed in for the rest of the day and evening.

Thursday, August 29^th, we had an errands day. We left the coach about 11:30 and drove to Anderson, the next town south of Redding, to the UPS Service Center to pick up our mail. We then did a few geocaches, getting three new finds. We drove back into Redding and stopped at the In N Out for lunch, then did a Walmart run and a Costco run. Nice to be back in California where we can buy our vodka at Costco. Yea! After our shopping we went back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the day. Friday was a bit of a repeat of yesterday. We had to take one of our lawn chairs back to Costco because it was falling apart, so we did Costco. We then went to WinCo to pick up a couple things we needed to take with us when we go up to Mineral tomorrow to see Peggy and her family. After our errands we went back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the evening.

Saturday, August 31^st, we left the RV park around 11:30 and headed south and east to Mineral to visit with the Bullock family. Regular readers will remember that last month our good friend Vernon Bullock died at his home in Mineral. We have known and been best friends with the Bullock's since we first met them on an Alaskan RV Caravan in July of 2009. We arrived in Mineral around 1:00 and spent the day with Peggy, her son's Matt and Larry, her daughter Katie, Matt's wife Roxanne and Larry's girlfriend Valerie. Basically we were part of a family gathering for the holiday weekend. We sat around and talked, played some games and had a wonderful time. For dinner we had chicken and TriTip steak, corn on the cob, salad and lots of great conversation. After dinner we visited until bedtime. We had a bit of a restless night sleeping in a different bed in a different house, but we enjoyed the day.

Sunday, September 1^st, goodbye to summer. Jackie and I have talked that when we were in school, and even when my kids were in school in the 70's and early 80's, school always started on the Tuesday after Labor Day. That was kind a a ritual date making the “official” end of summer. Of course with the changes in the education system schools have a lot more “off” days during the school year, so to make up for it they start back to school in the middle of August now. After we got up Jackie and I traded Anniversary cards. Today is an important anniversary for us in that it was September 1^st that I left Phoenix and moved to Indio, California to be with Jackie. We didn't get married until a little over five years together, but September 1^st is always a very important and happy day.

After everyone was up and had a cup or two of coffee breakfast was made, bacon and eggs, potatoes and biscuits. After breakfast we played another game of dice, which was fun. By about 11:00 everyone was packing up and getting ready to leave. For some reason Larry and Matt, their significant others, and Katie decided to wash everyone's cars before we left. It was very nice of them and saved me a needed trip to the car wash. We left Mineral around 12:30 and headed back to the Redding Elks, getting home about 2:00. We relaxed until about 5:00 then went out to have an anniversary dinner at a local Mexican restaurant called Mazatlan Grill. The service was excellent and the food was good, although both my shredded beef and Jackie's chicken were a little on the tough side. The sauces and the rest of the food were excellent. After dinner we went back to the coach and relaxed with the TV for the rest of the night.

Monday, September 2^nd, Happy Labor Day, whatever that means. We left the coach after lunch and drove to a laundromat to do our laundry. We figured Labor Day would be a good day, but were surprised to see a lot of people at the laundry. There were empty machines, however, so we got our laundry done and were back home by about 3:30. After we got everything put away I did some outside clean up chores in preparation for our departure tomorrow for Carmichael, a suburb of Sacramento.

Tuesday, September 3^rd, another travel day. We were ready to pull out of Redding at 10:00 and on Interstate 5 headed south 167 miles to the Carmichael Elks Lodge. We arrived at the Carmichael Elks around 1:30 and found a number of empty spots. We got parked and set up for our four day stay here. About 5:30 we left the coach and drove to the Texas Roadhouse in Citrus Heights, a nearby suburb, to meet an old friend of Jackie's, Kathy Yarbourgh and her

husband Bill. Kathy and Jackie have been close friends since the 80's. Kathy's daughter Julie was also there with her daughter Bella, who we have known since she was born. We had a very nice dinner and spent an hour and a half talking and catching up. As a general rule we see Kathy and Bill at least once a year, but there have been a few years that we missed when we didn't travel up the middle of California. After dinner we drove back to the coach and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Wednesday, September 4^th, we left the coach after lunch and did a Walmart run for a few supplies. There was a Costco right next door, so we stopped there too for a couple of things. After shopping we stopped at a few geocaches on the way back to the Elks, getting three new finds. We spent the rest of the day and evening in the coach. Thursday was movie day. While looking at the theater listings the other day I had noticed that one of the nearby multi-screen theaters was playing a re-released version of the original 2017 movie IT, based on the Stephen King novel. We had been considering going to see the new release, IT: Chapter Two, but since we had never gone to see the first movie, we thought we would take the opportunity to go see it. I had read the book back in the late 80's but had never watched the short-lived 90's TV series.

Since I think most people know the story, I won't go into a lot of detail, but basically it is a story of a small Maine town haunted by a demon who “collects” people from the town, coming back about every 27 years. He usually appears in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, but is a shape shifter and will appear to you as whatever scares you the most. I love Stephen King stories and this was no exception, a very scary movie. We are now ready to go see the sequel next week when we are in Fresno. I was glad this theater thought to do the old movie along with the new, and it was a huge XD screen and they had big, reclining seats too. After the movie we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Friday, September 6^th, our last full day in the Sacramento area. Today was a stay at home day. We did go into the Elks Lodge around noon and had lunch. It was a limited menu, but the food was good. We did a few chores around the coach and I took down the outside stuff for travel tomorrow. Late in the afternoon Kathy and Bill came over for a visit. They stayed for a couple of hours and we just sat in the coach and talked. After they left we had dinner and spent the rest of the evening with the TV. Saturday was another travel day. We were packed up and on the road about 10:00, continuing South on Highway 99, 177 miles to Fresno, California. The weather was nice but there was a brief time when we went though some wind which made handling harder. We arrived

at the Fresno Elks Lodge RV park about 1:30, got parked and set up. Around 4:00 we left the coach and drove to Jackie's cousin Stephanie Kopf's house in Southeast Fresno. Stephanie is actually a second cousin, daughter of Jackie's cousin Sue. Stephanie is another member of the family that we usually see about once a year. Since she knew we were coming, Stephanie's mom Sue and her sister Cherie came up from Torrance, California for the weekend. Jackie, Cherie and Sue pretty much grew up together. Stephanie's husband Ron works out of town and was not due back home until late tonight. We all sat around in Stephanie's living room talking. You may note in the picture that there is no furniture. Stephanie and Ron moved in this new house last year and the tile in the house was not installed correctly and was cracking badly. They have been working with the builder and they are in the process of replacing the tile, so all the furniture is in the garage. We stayed and talked until about 7:00 when we went back to the coach. We spent the rest of the night watching TV.

Sunday, September 8^th, we went out after lunch and did some quick shopping at Walmart and Costco. We are having Stephanie and family over this afternoon for a cookout and needed a few items. After we got back I set up the BBQ and a table and got ready for company. The family came right around 3:00, Stephanie and her husband, Ron, Jackie's cousins Sue and Cherie, and Stephanie's daughter Madison. Her younger son Bryce came about an hour later. It was a little warm, so we all sat around in the motor home where the A/C was and talked for a couple of hours. Around 5:00 I made some burgers on the BBQ and we had that with some mac and cheese and coleslaw that Stephanie brought. We had a really nice family visit and even watched some football on the TV outside once the shade came to the side of the coach. They all left around 6:30, after which we just cleaned up and relaxed with the TV the rest of the evening.

Monday, September 9^th, we left the coach about 12:30 and went to the movies to see IT: Chapter Two. This was not really a sequel to the 2017 movie we saw last week, but more of a continuation. The two movies together, more than five hours by the way, tell the entire story contained in the original novel. Jackie didn't think the movie was as good as the first, I though it was better. The new movie seamlessly melded the characters and activities from the first film, mostly new material, into the second film with many flashbacks to 27 years ago. I thought it was an excellent film. After the movie we went home and relaxed for a bit, then we went out to a local cafe for dinner. We went to the Yosemite Falls Cafe and had a really nice meal. The service was great, my liver and onions were excellent and Jackie thought her salmon was good, though just a touch dry. After dinner we went back to the coach and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.

Tuesday, September 10^th, we went out after lunch to do some geocaching, getting five new finds, and almost as many DNFs, four. After caching we did a quick Walmart run for a couple things, then went back to the coach. Stephanie came over about 5:30 or so to visit. She was by herself since Sue and Cherie and had gone home and Ron went back to his job site near the coast. Stephanie had dropped Madison off for water polo practice at her nearby school and came over for a while. We visited for a while and Jackie made some green chili and chicken enchiladas for dinner, with rice and beans. Stephanie left around 7:15 and we spent the rest of the evening with the TV. Wednesday was another travel day. We were packed up, dumped and on the road by 10:00, heading 122 miles south to Bakersfield. We arrived at the Shady Haven (formerly the Bakersfield Palms) RV park around 1:00 and got checked in. We have stayed at this park a lot over the last six or seven years because it is kind of on the way between Pahrump and Central California, as well as the Coachella Valley and Central and Coastal California. I would say we are here at least twice a year, sometimes more. We almost always only stay overnight and like the long, pull through sites and fullhookups. Today we changed a little and are going to stay for two nights. That means for the first time in probably five years we will unhook the car and explore Bakersfield. We got parked and set up, had lunch and left the park about 2:30 just to drive around and do a few caches. We drove around downtown for a bit, got two geocaches and tried for a third, but couldn't find a place to park. We found the Bakersfield Elks Lodge north of downtown and discovered that they were open. It is a huge building but the membership is just over 300. It is an old lodge, number 266, and has a nice bar. Despite how many times we came through Bakersfield, we have never been here. We had one drink and asked for a lodge pin, but the bartender said they don't have lodge pins. Boo Hoo. After our stop at the lodge we headed back to the RV park and stayed in for the rest of the evening.

Thursday, September 12^th, we left the RV park after lunch and went out to do some geocaching. We were out for a couple of hours and got eight new finds with no DNFs. After caching we stopped at Walmart for a couple of things then went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night. Friday was another travel day. We were on the road about 10:00 again, heading Southeast to Hesperia, about 135 miles. We made one fuel stop and then arrived at the Hesperia Elks Lodge about 1:00. We got set up for our one night stay and then relaxed for a while. About 6:00 we went into the lodge for their Friday night dinner. We had a couple of cocktails and then dinner, which was BBQ spare ribs with salad, beans and rice. The food was pretty good and only $10 a person. We chatted with a few members and I even did one karaoke song when they started it about 7:00. We left around 7:30 and went back to the coach where we watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, September 14^th, another travel day. We left the Hesperia Elks about 10:00 and started South to San Diego, about 145 miles. Although a relatively short drive, it was still very stressful. The hill down from the Cajon Pass near Hesperia is a 14 mile 6 percent grade and you really need to watch your speed. Once we got off the hill we dealt with heavy traffic all the way down to San Diego. With a max speed of 55 because we are towing, all the cars going 65 and 70 are zooming around you, switching lanes, cutting me off, and just generally driving me nuts. I was very happy when we finally arrived at the Santa Fe RV Resort in the Mission Bay area of San Diego. We got checked in and parked, then spent a couple of hours setting up for our one week stay here. We are primaily here because Jackie's brother Dennis. He lives here in San Diego and we wanted to spent some time with him. We will be here for a full week. After we got set up we just rested and decompressed from the drive for the rest of the day and evening.

Our arrival here in San Diego marks a good spot to close out this chapter and get it published. Until next time, remember the words of author Dennis Wholey. “Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian." See ya soon.

Summer in the Oregon Woods

Hi, welcome back to our story. Our last episode concluded on Friday, July 26^th, when we arrived at the Rogue River State Park in Gold Hill, Oregon. This park is about halfway between Medford and Grants Pass in South Central Oregon. We arrived to very smokey conditions because of a large wildfire burning about 50 miles North. Saturday was a stay at home day, but we did get a few things done. Since this park is in the forest getting satellite signal can be problematic sometimes. We have stayed in this park at least ten times over the years and know a few of the full hookup sites that have satellite signal with the rooftop dish. However, when I made these reservations none of those sites were available for the entire two week period we wanted. I picked out another spot which, based on Google Earth photos and some guess work, I thought might give us signal. I didn't bank on the tree next to the site growing over the intervening time between when the aerial photo was taken and today. As a result we couldn't get the roof top antenna to connect. We probably could have pulled far enough forward to miss the now fairly large tree, but then we wouldn't have anywhere to park the car. I didn't try to do the outside dish yesterday but set it up this morning and managed to get it locked onto the satellite within five minutes. Yea! It is only standard definition TV instead of HD, but hey, it works. Other than that we stayed in the coach, out of the smoke and haze, and just relaxed for a day. With all the travel and Vernon's death it has been a tough week, so we needed a down day.

Sunday, July 28^th, we left the coach after lunch and drove into Medford, about 20 miles east of the park. We stopped at Fred Meyers to do some shopping. For those not familiar with Fred Meyers, it is a major chain store in the Northeast United States and a subsidiary of the Kroger company. It is similar in concept to a Super Walmart in that each Fred store has both grocery and general merchandise. We have found that they tend to be a little higher priced than Walmart, but the selection is better. After Fred we stopped at a Walgreen's to pick up some face masks for when the smoke gets really bad. After that we headed back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the day. For dinner we did some nice New York steaks on the BBQ, along with some sauteed sea scallops and sweet potatoes. It was as wonderful as it sounds.

Monday, July 29^th, we left the coach about 1:00 and drove to Grants Pass to do our laundry. We had about three weeks worth of clothes to do, but we were finished and back at the coach by cocktail hour. We spent the remainder of the day in the coach. We had our left over steak for dinner. Tuesday we left the coach a little before 11:00 a.m. and headed towards Medford with a plan of driving to Crater Lake National Park, which is about 70 miles Northeast. We needed to stop at Costco for fuel and a bank for some cash before heading out. Unfortunately, the Costco was not where it used to be, and where the GPS in the car thought it was. It took a while to find it and we finally decided to just forgo Crater Lake for today and go to the movies instead. We had planned to go to the movies in the next day or so anyway and have plenty of time to get to Crater Lake while we are here. We got into the noon showing of Once Upon A Time in Hollywood starring Brad Pitt and Leonardo DeCaprio. It was a typical Quentin Tarantino movie with lots of layers and very interesting organization. The film was set in late 60's Hollywood and centered around a mediocre TV actor (DeCaprio) and his stunt man buddy (Pitt) trying to break into movies. They lived in the Hollywood Hills on Cielo Drive, next door to the house rented by Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate. Of course, we all know how that story ends.....or do we. Without putting in any spoilers lets just say this movie presents an alternative history in a very entertaining and complex way. Jackie was not overwhelmed by the film, I thought it was very good. I like the whole alternative universe way of looking at things. After the movie we stopped at a Bi Mart store, which we haven't seen since last year, and shopped a little. We then headed back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the day.

Wednesday, July 31^st, we went out about 1:00 for a late lunch in nearby Rogue River. We went to a Mexican restaurant called Tarasco, which was highly rated on Yelp. The food and service were both outstanding and we had a great meal. After lunch we did some geocaching in the area, getting four new finds in an hour or so. After caching we went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the day. Thursday we once again left the coach about 10:30 and headed towards Crater Lake, about a 90 minute drive. We have been here twice before, once in 2005 and then again in 2016. When we came up here three years ago we wanted to have lunch at the Crater Lake Lodge, a beautiful old stone and wood hotel on the rim of the lake. However, they had a very large party and we couldn't get in. This time the park was much less crowded and we got right into the dining room. We didn't have a window seat, but could still see some of the wonderful sights outside the building. The food and service were both excellent. Jackie had a huge Cobb salad and I had a pasta dish. Both of us sprung for the crab addition to our dishes. It was not a cheap lunch, but then they have to haul everything up to 7,000 feet a hundred miles from the nearest city. After lunch we took some pictures, went to the Rim Village, a few hundred yards from the Lodge, visited the gift shop and then drove a portion of the 33 mile road around the lake.

The lake was formed about 7,700 years ago when a massive eruption of an ancient, 12,000 foot volcano caused the top to collapse, forming the bowl shape seen today. Like most volcanic crater lakes, the water comes only from rain and melting snow, making it one of the cleanest lakes in the world. The deepest part of the lake is just short of 2,000 feet, making it the deepest lake in the United States and seventh in the world for depth. The park was founded in 1902 and encompasses over 183 thousand acres. The lake itself is about 20 square miles in size. It is by far the prettiest lake I have ever seen. After touring the park we headed back to the coach, getting home just before 5:00. On the way back we stopped along the way and picked up a couple of geocaches. We stayed in for the rest of the evening.

Friday, August 2^nd, we left the coach after lunch and drove to Grants Pass to run some errands. The first stop was to get the car washed. Since we have been on the road, and then in the smoke and ash for a while, it was pretty dirty. After the car wash we went to Walmart for some supplies. We then went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the day. Saturday we left the coach about 11:30 and drove to Ashland, Oregon, about 30 miles Southeast of the park. Ashland is a small University town of about 22,000 population. It is home to Southern Oregon University, a well know liberal arts college. They host one of the better known annual Shakespeare festivals in the country. It has a lot of cute shops on the main street and a weekend arts and crafts festival downtown. We always try to get to Ashland at least once each time we stop in the Medford area. The town is very busy on the weekends, but we managed to find a spot in one of the city parking lots, then walked to the central plaza area of downtown. We stopped and had lunch at a place called Louie's Bar and Grill. The food and service were great. After lunch we walked through the arts and crafts fair, which was not too large, then walked down the main street. We went into a number of the shops and just enjoyed the warm afternoon. We finally made it to the Elks Lodge, which is still in their original 1909 building in the middle of downtown Ashland. We also try to visit this Elks anytime we are in the area. It is now the only Elks in the area, as the Medford Elks closed up and was abolished two years ago and the Grants Pass Elks sold their building last year and now only have meetings in the local American Legion hall. We had a couple of drinks, played a little on the slot machines, which are legal in Oregon and owned by the State lottery. After our visit we stopped and got a geocache in town, then headed back to the coach. We stayed in the rest of the evening.

Sunday, August 4^th, we had a stay at home day. Didn't even have a Sunday paper as a 40 mile round trip for a newspaper seems kind of silly. Just had a quiet, relaxing day. Monday we left after lunch and drove into Medford for some shopping. Jackie wanted to go to some of the craft stores for a project she is working on. We went to Hobby Lobby and another independent craft store, but she didn't find what she was looking for. We also did some geocaching, getting four new finds and one DNF before we decided it was a little too hot and humid to cache more. We drove back to the coach and relaxed with the TV for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, August 6^th, we left the coach about noon and drove to Grants Pass to have lunch with some friends. We went to Shari's, which is a large, coffee shop chain in the Western U.S. We met with Russ and Nellie Reichert, who are fellow geocachers that we met eight or nine years ago in Quartzsite, Arizona while we were geocaching. They are a little older than us and have a house here in Grants Pass, however, they spend their summers volunteering at various Federal and State campgrounds. This year they are hosting at a remote horse camp between Medford and Klamath Falls, Oregon. When we called them last week they said they had to come to town today for a doctor's appointment and would like to meet us for lunch. We last saw them in February at the big geocaching event in Yuma, Arizona. We had a nice lunch and some nice catch-up conversations. After lunch we stopped so Jackie could get a haircut and we also did a couple of geocaches in Grants Pass. We made a stop at Fred Meyers for a couple of things, then went back to the coach. We stayed in with the TV for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, August 7^th, we had originally planned on going to the Oregon Caves National Monument, which is about 60 miles Southwest of the park. However, after looking at their website we discovered that the cave tours were rated strenuous, with areas where you have to duck down to less than four feet and also a lot of steep stairs. We decided that Jackie was not up to that challenge, so we didn't go. We went out after lunch to do some geocaching in the area. In a couple of hours we had four new finds and one DNF for the day. We went back to the coach and spent the rest of the day and evening at home. Thursday the 8^th was our last day here in Gold Hill. We had a stay at home day. I spent some time taking down stuff and putting stuff away in preparation for travel tomorrow. Today also would have been my mother's 93^rd birthday.

Friday, August 9^th, was a travel day. We were packed up and rolling out of the Valley of the Rogue State Park about 10:00, heading north on Interstate 5. We are headed 155 miles to Coburg, Oregon, just north of Eugene. Coburg happens to be where the headquarters for the old Monaco Corporation were located. The factory was in Junction City, about ten miles west. We arrived at the Eugene Kamping World RV park about 1:00, got checked in and parked. After we got set up and had lunch we took a quick drive, less than a mile, to what had been the Monaco Service Center in Coburg. It is now owned by REV Corporation, which has many subsidiary companies, including all the Fleetwood RV products and all the Monaco products. They still have a parts counter and I needed a switch for the parking brake in the coach. We tried to get it fixed in Las Vegas this spring when we went to the Monaco International rally, but the service guy they sent to the coach was a duffuss and never did find the right part. The guy at the counter today listened to what I said I needed, walked to the back and got it. After our visit there we went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Saturday, August 10^th, we left the coach after lunch and drove to the south side of Eugene to Northwest RV Supply. This is a huge, one of a kind RV store. Up until 2008, when the economy went in the dumper, hundreds of RVs, both motorhomes and towables, were built in the small towns around Eugene. Monaco, Country Coach, Beaver and several smaller brands all had factories in the area. They all went bankrupt. Northwest Supply bought out a lot of the smaller parts and supplies when the companies were sold off, so they have many, many new parts for older coaches in the building. We always like to go there when we are in the area just to look around. I did find a never used Monaco screen door that appears to be the same size and type as ours. Ours is falling apart and the door was welded together, not bolted, so it can't be fixed without a machine shop. We bought a few small parts and asked the guy in the store to put the screen door aside until I could get home and measure our door. If it was the same size, I would come back in two weeks, when we pass through Eugene again, and buy it. It was $199, a bargain in my mind. After we left the store we got a couple geocaches, three new finds and one DNF, then headed back to the coach. I checked our screen door and it is exactly the same size. Yea! We spent the rest of the day in the coach.

Sunday was a travel day. We left Coburg about 10:00, heading 115 miles Northwest, to the Oregon Coast, a small town called Neskowin. The first 50 miles were freeway, but when we turned West at Salem, we were on State roads. The roads were good, just two lane for the most part and a fair amount of traffic. Nonetheless, we made it to the Neskowin Creek RV Resort about 12:30, got checked in and parked. This is an RPI membership resort and we are here for two weeks for $15 a night for full hookup 50 amp. Yea! We spent a few hours setting up and spent the rest of the day resting.

Monday, August 12^th, we left the coach after lunch and drove into Lincoln City, which is about ten miles south of the resort on Highway 101. We did a little exploring and geocaching, getting seven new finds fairly quickly. We have spent quite a few summers in Oregon over the years, but the last time we spent any amount of time in Lincoln City was back in '06 or '07. At that time we visited the Elks Lodge here, but today we noticed that the building which had housed the Elks was now a restaurant and the Elks website did not show a lodge in Lincoln City. After our exploring and caching we stopped at Safeway for a few things, then headed back to the coach. This RV resort is a fairly large, private membership resort which is situated in a large meadow between Highway 101, which also has a small creek running along side of it, and a several hundred foot high wooded hill. On the other side of the hill is the Pacific Ocean. It's an OK park, which we can get into because of our RPI membership, with lots of grass. And, we have noticed, lots of rabbits. There are bunnies everywhere. These are not the normal, dirty brown wild cotton tail bunnies, these are semi-feral domestic rabbits. You can walk past or even right up to most of them and they don't run, but they are skittish enough that you can't touch them. We brought out some carrots and some of them would eat the carrot while you held it in your hand. There are clearly multiple generations, with some really big adults and some very small juveniles. On my morning walk I counted well over 60 and I am sure I missed a bunch. The predominant color seems to be black, but there are some beige ones, and a number of black and white, but I haven't seen an all white one yet. It's kind of fun watching them hop around the coach and nibble grass and the cat enjoys watching them too.

Tuesday, August 13^th, we left the coach and drove north on Highway 101 to explore Neskowin and Pacific City, both small coastal towns just north of the resort. Neskowin was very small and Pacific City was only slightly larger. Both were primarily residential communities with lots of beach houses, some small cabins, some really big homes. We also did some geocaching, getting six new finds and no DNFs for the afternoon. After our exploration we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the evening. Wednesday we left the coach about 11:30 and drove north to Tillamook, Oregon for the day. Tillamook is famous for it's cheese and we like to visit the cheese factory and the Blue Heron Cheese Company store. Our first stop was the Pacific Restaurant for lunch. It is in downtown, so parking can be an issue, but we found a spot the second time around the block. The food was OK, not the best, not the worst, but the place had some issues. Lots of stuff lying around making it look cluttered and unsanitary. Also a very limited menu and somewhat pricey. Probably wouldn't go back again. After lunch we went to the two cheese factories and bought some cheeses. They have remodeled the Tillamook Cheese factory. They still have the self guided tour, which we didn't take because we have done it several times before, but they took out the big gift shop and put in a cafeteria. They still have the food store and a limited selection of tee shirts and hats. Interesting thing was at both the Blue Heron and the Tillamook store we got front row parking because they have electric car slots, complete with chargers. We weren't in the stores long enough to get any real charge, a couple of free miles, but the close parking was cool. Yea Green! We then went to the Tillamook Country smoker which is famous for their jerkey and meat sticks. We bought a bunch of stuff there too. On the way back to the RV park we did a few geocaches, getting four new finds and no DNFs. After we got back to the coach we just sat outside with cocktails for a while, feeding the bunnies carrots, then went in and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Thursday, August 15^th, we left the coach after lunch and drove into Lincoln City to do our laundry. This took most of the afternoon and after we were finished we went back to the coach. We stayed in for the rest of the day. Friday was a stay at home day. We got some chores done and relaxed for the entire day. We ended the day with a nice steak on the BBQ along with some sea scallops. Yum!  One interesting thing we have seen at this RV Resort is this nicely restored 1968 Ultravan Class A motor home.  After seeing this I did a little research and learned that there were only about 330 of these made, from 1964 to 1969.  They were all powered by Chevrolet Corvair engines with Chevrolet PowerGlide automatic transmissions.

We are now about three weeks since our last episode was published. We will be here in Neskowin for another week before starting back south into California. Until next time, keep in mind the words of Mark Twain. “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” See ya soon.

Time With Family and Friends In California

Hello again, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, June 29^th, a few days after we arrived in Santa Maria, California for a two week stay visiting family in the area. Sunday we enjoyed the paper with our coffee, then after lunch we went out to do some geocaching. Having spent a great deal of time in Pahrump this year, where there are very few geocaches which are both accessible to us and which we haven't already found. As a result, we haven't done much geocaching. It was good to get out and spend a few hours really caching. We were able to get nine new finds, and three DNFs in the course of about two and a half hours. After caching we went back to the coach and just relaxed for the rest of the day.

Monday, July 1^st, the middle of the year. We left the Elks about 11:30 and drove to the town of Arroyo Grande, about 15 miles north, to go to the movies. We saw the movie Yesterday, which was an interesting and entertaining romantic comedy. It was about an aspiring singer/song writer who was not having much luck until an odd, and mostly unexplained, glitch in the time/space continuum occurred. All the power everywhere in the world went out for 12 seconds and when it came back on there were a number of things which had never occurred, including cigarettes, Coca Cola, and The Beatles. However, at the exact moment of the blackout our hero singer got hit by a bus and knocked unconscious. His memory was not affected, so he remembered all these things that no one else did. He started doing what he thought were covers of Beatles songs, but to everyone else in the world they had no memories of them. He ended up wildly popular and famous for “writing” and performing all the songs by the Beatles. At the end he got a conscience, admitted his fraud, released all the songs online for free, then, of course, got the girl in the end. An unusual premise that could have been handled better, but the story was fun and the music was great. If you like the Beatles and romantic comedy, then this is a good movie for you, even if you have to suspend belief to “get it.” After the movie we drove up to Pismo Beach and met Donna's grandson Corey in Scotty's, one of the local bars. He had a caretaker for Donna for the day. We had a couple of drinks, then drove up to the house for an hour or so and spent some time with Donna. About 6:00 we left and on the way back to Santa Maria we stopped at a Mexican restaurant in Nipomo for dinner. Las Conzuelas was very good and we had a great dinner. We then drove to the coach, watched some TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, July 2^nd, we had a stay at home day. I got a lot of chores done including installing a new TV in the bedroom. About four years ago I updated the TV in the bedroom, removing the old, heavy tube type TV and putting in a small, 22 inch LED. This also opened up a big storage compartment for Jackie. That little TV quit working a couple weeks ago and I found a replacement on Amazon which I had shipped to Donna's house. It was delivered yesterday. The TV took a couple of hours and I also did a few hours of office work and some household chores. It was a very quiet, but productive day. Wednesday we left the coach after lunch, about 1:00 or so, and did some more geocaching, this time to the North of Santa Maria. In the course of a few hours we were able to get another nine new finds, with no DNFs today. Yea! As a matter of fact, one of the caches we found was a DNF for us a year or so ago. After caching we stopped at a grocery store for a couple things, then met Corey at Scotty's bar again. We had a couple of drinks, then drove up to Donna's and spent another 90 minutes visiting with her. We left about 6:30 and drove back to the coach, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, July 4^th, Happy Birthday America! We stayed around the coach until about 5:00 when we left to drove up to Donna's house for the fireworks show. As I have said before, her house overlooks the public pier in Pismo Beach and each year they do the city's fireworks show off the pier. This makes Donna's house the ideal place to watch the show. Back in the early 2000's, before we sold the house and went full time in the coach we used to drive up here from Indio to spend the Fourth of July with Donna and her late husband Barky. We were up here at least three different years, however, after wewent out in the coach we were never in this part of California during the summer, so we haven't seen a show from Donna's house since before 2005. The show doesn't start until 9:00 p.m., so we talked, had some cocktails and ate pizza for dinner. Corey had picked up some pizza at a local Italian place. At 9:00 the fireworks started and it was a great show. There were thousands of people on the beach as far as you could see and, because fireworks are legal in the Coastal counties over the Fourth, there were lots of private “shows” all over the area, but the main show off the pier was wonderful. As soon as the show ended we quickly got in the car and headed for the freeway because if we delayed too much all the people on the beach would have time to walk to their cars and the traffic would come to a standstill. We were able to get down off the hill and on to the freeway in less than 10 minutes and were home within a half hour. When we got back to the Elks lodge we felt that we were in a war zone. There were fireworks going up all over the neighborhood surrounding the Elks Lodge. We watched a little TV and went to bed listening to the bangs.

Friday, July 5^th, we had another stay at home day until about 4:00 when we left to drive to Nipomo, about five miles north, for dinner at Jocko's, our favorite steak house. We always go to Jocko's at least once anytime we visit this area, and today we were also celebrating Corey's birthday. Corey and Pia met us for dinner and the four of us had a wonderful dinner. I had the big, 20 oz rib eye, or Spencer as they call it here. Jackie and Pia had lamb and Corey had halibut. Everything was great except that Corey had to send the halibut back because it was overcooked. The second one was not too much better, still a little overdone, but he ate it anyway. We all took leftovers home. Donna didn't come tonight because she no longer does well in noisy, crowded places, so Corey took some food home to her. After dinner we drove back home, relaxed with the TV for a while. Our relaxation was interrupted about 8:15 while we were watching a movie on the TV. All of a sudden the coach was rocking back and forth and the shaking went on for about 20 seconds. Not real severe, but definitely detectable. Both of us said “earthquake” and decided that it was either a small one close by or a big one a way's off. Turned out to be a 7.1 quake about 150 miles northeast in the Mohave Desert near the town of Ridgecrest. They had experienced a 6.4 on the Fourth, which was the largest Southern California quake in over 10 years, but because it is a small, rural city there were no deaths or major injuries and only moderate property damage. They have had thousands of smaller after shocks from yesterday, but this new 7.1 becomes the main shock and even the 6.4 is now considered a “foreshock.” As soon as we felt the quake we switched to the Los Angeles network and within five minutes they had cut away from regular programming with news about the big quake. We watched that coverage until bedtime, but no more shaking for us.

Saturday, July 6^th, we went out after lunch and did some more geocaching in the southern area of Santa Maria and the small town of Orcutt. We got five new finds and three DNFs for our trouble. After caching we went back to the coach and just relaxed for the rest of the day and evening. Sunday we had our usual relaxing morning with the Sunday paper and morning TV shows. About 2:30 we left the RV park and drove to Grover Beach, a small community south of Pismo Beach, to visit Jackie's cousin Pia's house. We have seen Pia a couple of times since we have been here, but we wanted to see her new cat, Pickles. Pickles was a stray that they picked up near Bakersfield a couple months ago. Although in feral conditions, it clearly was not a lifetime feral cat as it quickly adapted to living with Pia and her significant other Wil. Pickles is a smallish female, about the size of Benji, who has some tabby markings and some calico coloring. A very pretty cat, and quite friendly. After visiting with Pia for a while we went on to Pismo Beach and spent a couple hours with Corey and Donna. About 6:30 we headed back to Santa Maria, did some burgers on the BBQ for dinner, and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Monday, July 8^th, was laundry day. We left the coach after lunch and went to a nearby laundry. The one we use is only a mile from the Elks, very big and fairly new, so the equipment is in good condition. They also have staff cleaning the place all day, so it is nice and clean, although there was a bit of a funky smell, probably a clogged drain somewhere. After laundry we did a Walmart run, then went back to the coach to put everything away. We had dinner, then watched TV until bedtime. Tuesday was our last full day here in Santa Maria. I did a little cleanup outside, took down the screens and got ready to travel tomorrow. About 2:30 we left and drove up to Pismo Beach and Donna's house. We spent a few hours with Corey and Donna. Pia was also supposed to be there, but she had to take her cat to the vet and got hung up there. About 6:00 we left Donna's, went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the night.

Wednesday, July 10^th, a travel day. We were packed up, hooked up and on the road about 10:45. Today's leg is about 132 miles to an RV park outside of the town of Coalinga, just off of Interstate 5. We got into the RV park about 1:30 and hooked up the utilities. Since we are only here for one night we didn't unhook the car, just set up the minimal stuff inside and relaxed for the rest of the day. This was the first time in two weeks we had to run the A/Cs. We went from a nice 75 to a toasty 95. Thursday was also a travel day, this time heading north on I-5 160 miles to Lodi. It was freeway all the way although we did make a fuel stop about 100 miles into the trip. We arrived at the Flag City RV park about 1:30 and got parked and set up. We are going to be here for three nights, so we have time to do some shopping, chores and geocaching. After we got set up we just relaxed in the coach for the rest of the day and evening.

Friday, July 12^th, we had a chores day in Lodi. We first went to a place in town called Fiori's Butcher Shoppe. Peggy had called Jackie and asked if, since we were in Lodi, could we go by Fiori's and pick up some of their special spice mix, salt, pepper, and a variety of other stuff. Apparently everyone in the Bullock family uses this stuff and they were running low. At Peggy's request we bought ten 16oz bottles to bring up with us next week when we go to Mineral. Fiori's also has a great deli, so we had lunch there. Jackie had a nice, big salad and I had an Italian hero type sandwich. The food was pretty good and the place was very busy. After lunch we went to a Great Clips and both got haircuts. Jackie does hers once a month or so, I go about five months between haircuts. We then went to the nail salon in the nearby Walmart to get our toes done. I just get a clip, Jackie gets a full pedi. Once that was done we did our grocery shopping, then headed back to the RV park. We got everything put away and stayed in for the rest of the day.

Saturday, July 13^th, we had a free day. About noon we left the coach and drove east about 45 miles to the town of Fairfield, a distant suburb of the Oakland/San Francisco metro area. We went to visit the Jelly Belly Candy Company and take the factory tour. For the one person out there who doesn't know what a Jelly Belly is, it's a small, gourmet jelly bean and they make a couple hundred different flavors. Those that have eaten them will attest that they pretty much taste like whatever they say it is. A good example is buttered popcorn. You put this little white jelly bean in your mouth, bite it and you taste buttered popcorn. They have every type of flavor you could want. The factory tour is very similar to what you get at the Tillamok Cheese factory. You go upstairs and then walk around the entire factory on a balcony that has windows looking down at the production floor. Unfortunately, we were there during the three week maintenance shutdown, so none of the machines were running and the only people on the floor were a couple of maintenance guys working on stuff. It was still very interesting as they have a bunch of short videos and a lot of displays to look at. We also got free samples for taking the tour. Yea! Of course, after the tour we went into the gift shop and I got a great tee shirt and a little stuffed animal jelly belly mascot for the dashboard of the coach. After the tour we did a couple of geocaches in Fairfield, then drove back to Lodi and did a couple more around the area where the RV park is. We ended up with seven new finds and one DNF. We went back to the coach and relaxed for a while, then about 6:00 we went to the Denny's across the highway for dinner. After dinner we went back to the coach, watched TV and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Sunday, July 14^th, another travel day. We packed up and were on the road a little after 10:00, heading north on I-5 to the city of Red Bluff. We arrived at the Red Bluff Elks Lodge about 1:30 and found an RV spot to park in. It was not difficult as we were the only one's there. They have 17 spots with 30 amp and water, with a dump station on site. We are here for two nights, so we set up and then went into Red Bluff to a Mexican restaurant called La Corona. Peggy had told Jackie that they had the best chili colorado in the area and we had to try it. We called and determined that they were closed tomorrow, so we decided to go for a late lunch. The food was very good as was the service. We had a great lunch, I did have the chili colorado and it was quite tasty. After lunch we went back to the coach and tried to stay cool by not moving around much. In 95 degree weather it is tough for the coach to stay cool inside with only the one air conditioner that you can run on 30 amps. We had a quiet rest of the day and evening.

Monday, July 15^th, we went out after lunch to Walmart to get some supplies, did two geocaches in the area, and went back to the coach. About 6:00 we walked over to the Elks Lodge, had a cocktail and then took in their weekly Monday steak sandwich. For $12 you got a good sized steak on a bun, fries or onion rings, and a salad bar. Not a bad deal. After dinner we went back to the coach and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.

Tuesday, July 16^th, another moving day. Or so we thought until our world turned upside down. This morning we were going to leave Red Bluff and drive up the hill to Mineral, California where Peggy and Vernon have their “cabin” which they have added onto to the point where it is a huge house. We were going up there for the sixth annual 50^th Anniversary party. Back in 2013 they had a huge party for their 50^th, and it was so much fun and so many people came that they continued to have it every July. We missed a couple because of our travels, but this would be our fourth party. However, at 7:30 a.m. my phone rang (Jackie was still in bed) and it was a tearful Peggy telling me that her husband Vernon had died overnight! She said he fell, hit his head and died before she found him. You could have knocked me over with a straw. I woke Jackie up and told her the news and we had a good cry together. For the first few hours we were completely unsure as to what to do, but after talking to a couple of the other RVing couples we knew were supposed to come we decided to cancel our reservations in Mineral and find a place to stay down here in the valley, so we could be close but not right on top of the family. We were working on that prospect when Larry Bullock, one of their four children called and said that the family had decided to go ahead with the party this weekend, but now make it a celebration of life for Vernon. He is going to be cremated and there will be no funeral or service in accordance with his wishes. We decided to make a new reservation and go up on Thursday and stay until Monday.

Regular readers will know that we first met Peggy and Vernon in July of 2009 when we began our Alaska Caravan. They were parked right next door to us at the campground in Dawson Creek, B.C. and we immediately hit it off. We have been best friend's since and have traveled together at least four months of every year, gone to a lot of rallies together and partied a lot together. Vernon could be a grumpy old fart, but he had a big heart and was always there to help if you needed it. I think a lot of his grumpiness was because his health was poor. He had a bad heart, one heart attack under his belt already and his heart only worked about 40 percent. I think he was pissed off because he couldn't do physically what he wanted to do, was always tired and hurting. We had some great times together and we will miss him dearly. After we figured out what we were going to do, we spent the rest of the day inside just quietly mourning the loss of a great friend. RIP Vernon.

Wednesday, July 17^th, we left the coach about 12:30 and drove to the movie theater to see Stuber. Stuber is a silly, shoot em' up where a rough and tumble undercover cop undergoes laser surgery on his eyes to fix bad eyesight, and then gets a tip that an international drug trafficker he has been chasing for ten years is back in town. The drug king pin shot and killed our hero's partner ten years ago, so he has to go, but can't see, so he calls an Uber. Stu, a mild mannered East Indian gets the pickup and mayhem ensues. Lots of shooting, dying and running, car crashes and explosions, and, of course, a happy ending. Not Oscar material, but good escape-ism and funny. After the movie we stopped at Walmart for a couple things we forgot yesterday, then went back to the coach where we stayed in the rest of the day.

Thursday, July 18^th, we left Red Bluff about 10:00 and started the 42 mile trip up to Mineral and Peggy and Vernon's house. Jackie followed in the car, both because it was a short trip and because in the 42 miles the elevation changes from under 300 to over 5,000 feet. The last time we tried it towing the Jeep the coach overheated, so I decided to not take any chances this time. We made it in about an hour with the coach only getting a little hot a couple of times. We checked into the Mineral Lodge RV park, which is about a half mile from Peggy's place and got parked and set up. We are in the middle of a pine forest so there is no satellite at all, although I tried for several hours to get a signal. About 4:30 we drove to the house and had a nice get together with the Bullock family and a bunch of friends, most of whom we know well or at least have met at previous parties up here. We talked, reminisced about Vernon, and had some drinks, then a great pot luck dinner with lots of food. We left about 8:30, went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Friday, July 19^th we spent the morning in the coach and about 3:00 drove down to the house for the evening's party. I packed in the karaoke gear as there are several people in our circle of friends that like to sing. After I got the equipment set up we relaxed with some cocktails and chatted with friends. Tonight was just a whole bunch of different appetizers and snacks. About 6:00 I started the karaoke and was surprised that we had about six people in the group who liked to sing, and most of them were pretty good. We went until it got dark about 9:00 when the party pretty much broke up. I stored the gear until morning since it was on Peggy's back deck and it was pretty unlikely that anyone was going to come in to steal it. We went back to the coach, relaxed for an hour or so with our mobile devices, since we have no TV, and then went to bed. Another great evening.

Saturday, July 20^th, we went down to the house about 9:00 a.m. for Larry's famous breakfast burritos and bloody Mary's. We stayed for a couple hours, then went back to the coach, got cleaned up and relaxed for most of the day. About 3:30 we went back down to the house for dinner. There are still at least two dozen people hanging out, most of them either in the RV park where we are or the motel next door. Tonight was the big dinner with Peggy's son Larry making baby back ribs, and her daughter Katie making chicken. This was accompanied by a bunch of other food brought by guests. The food was excellent and after dinner everyone sat around a great big campfire in the back yard and told stories. About 9:00 the party broke up, we went back to the coach, read for a while and then went to bed.

Sunday, July 21^st, we again were down at the house around 9:00 for breakfast, today it was biscuits and gravy. Yum. We were there for a couple hours, then went back to the coach and cleaned up for the day.  We took a drive to the little town of Chester which is on Lake Almanor, about  30 miles Northeast of Mineral.  We drove around, got a few geocaches and had some ice cream before driving back to Mineral.  We went back to the house about 3:00 and the group was significantly smaller. By the time we had dinner at 6:00, leftovers from yesterday, it was Jackie and I, Peggy, and her daughter Katie. Everyone else had left to go home. We stayed until about 9:00, then went back to the coach and relaxed. Monday was our last day in Mineral. We went to the little cafe at the Mineral Lodge for lunch, then went to Peggy's house. Now it was just her and the dog, Belle. We helped her do some cleaning and packing around the house and about 4:00 she left to drive to Redding to spend a couple of nights with her son Matt. She has some doctor's appointments and some stuff to do take care of with Vernon and the estate. We went back to the coach and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing. Although we didn't have any live TV we were able to watch one of the movies we had on the DVR.

Tuesday, July 23^rd, we were packed up, hooked up and on the road by 10:00. We were only going a little over 70 miles to the Redding Elks Lodge. We arrived at the lodge around 11:30, got parked and did the basic setup. We have 50 amp, so we can run both air conditioners, and we need to because it is hot. We also now have TV again! Yea! After we got the basics done we drove to a nearby Thai restaurant and met Peggy for lunch. We had a nice lunch, then went back to the coach and finished setting everything up. We are staying here for three nights. Wednesday was a errands day. About 10:00 Peggy brought Belle over to the coach for us to dog sit for an hour or so while she ran some errands. She had spent the last couple nights with her son Matt, but was going back up to Mineral today. Peggy picked up the dog and we left the coach after lunch and first took a drive in the residential area near the Elks Lodge. Many of the homes in this area were burned in the Carr Fire, which devastated Redding and the surrounding communities almost exactly a year ago. All of the burned homes have been cleared, but most of the lots are still empty. We did see a couple of new homes and a couple more under construction, but last year was such a bad year for California and wildfires that there are just not enough construction workers for rebuilding the thousands of homes that were lost statewide.

After our little tour we drove to Costco for a few supplies. Mostly we needed to stock up on vodka since we are going into Oregon for a month and liquor is much more expensive up there because of their restrictive laws on liquor sales. After Costco we went the Walmart across the street for a few things. We then drove to Anderson, a small town about ten miles south of Redding, to pick up our mail at the UPS store After the UPS store we stopped at Camping World and browsed for a bit, then drove back to the coach. We spent the rest of the day and evening in the coach.

Thursday, July 25^th, we left the coach about 10:00 and drove back up to Mineral and Peggy's house. It took a lot less time in the car than going up in the coach. We went up there because Peggy's grandson Troy, his wife Makayla and their new baby Brooks, came in yesterday for a visit. They live in the Boise, Idaho area and couldn't make here in time for the celebration of life for Vernon. Matt had also brought up Troy's sister, Trinity, who is 14, and lives in Redding. We wanted to go back up to Mineral since we had not seen the family since last year, and at that time Makayla was still pregnant. We had lunch and spent about five hours visiting with the family. We left about 3:00 and drove back to the Elks, then spent the rest of the evening in the coach.

Friday, July 26^th, was a travel day. We are going about 165 miles north to Gold Hill, Oregon, finally getting out of California for a while. We left early, about 9:00 to try and avoid some of the heat. There are a lot of hills and mountain passes on the route north and I was worried about overheating. We made it to the Valley of the Rogue State Park without any problems, getting in about 1:00. We made it to our reserved space and got parked and settled in for our two week stay. We were quite disappointed to see that there was a great deal of smoke hanging over the Rogue River valley and the visibility was very bad. There is a large forest fire about 50 miles north of the State Park and the smoke is blowing down from that. It reminded us of what Redding was like this time last year when we were there during a big fire nearby.

We are now over three weeks since we published, so it is time to get this episode online. We are here in Gold Hill, in Southern Oregon, for two weeks, then we move to Northern Oregon for another two week stay. Until next time, remember that the secret of success is to go from mistake to mistake without losing your enthusiasm. See ya soon.