One of our first stops was at the Cape Meares Lighthouse near Tillamook, Oregon. This lighthouse was in operation until the 60's when it was replaced by an automatic beacon. It is an example of the multi-layered lens which when rotating had alternating red and white light. We were looking out over the Pacific Ocean on a stormy night imagining how important this lighthouse was to ships as much as 100 years ago or more. It was raining while we were exploring, we were wishing we could have turned on the lighthouse. It would also had been nice if we could have visited the gift shop, just next door to the lighthouse but it closed at 4 pm. Click the photo for another view. This first night was spent at the "Western Royal Motel" which was $66 plus $10 for Morgan plus tax, making it $83. The Ashley motel down the street wanted $150 and the Sheriton wanted $135. Gwen thought the room was dirty, I thought it was noisy, too close to Highway 101.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012: Our goal for the weekend was to visit the sandcastle competion in Canon Beach, Oregon. Gwen and Morgan were the first to arrive. This is an annual event but our first time to visit. We were surprised when we arrived in Canon Beach to be directed to drive onto the beach for parking near the competition. The Canon Beach police and community volunteers had the parking and event well under control. The beach was crowded with parked cars and then crowded with sandcastle spectators. We were relatively early and tried to leave (I'll explain later) about an hour before the judging so we did not see the finished projects but only the project in progress. Rain was threatening early but slowly cleared which, I'm sure, was a relief to the builders. The contest was dividing into experience and age groups so there was a whole section of the beach set aside for children to build castles. This was obviously a fun day for the builders but a bit chilly as you can tell from the way spectators are bundled up. It was a busy day for the restaurants in Canon Beach. We had lunch at Mo's, an Oregon Coast chain restaurant and one with a good clam chowder reputation. We both enjoyed the chowder and so did many others. Mo's did a very good job handling the large crowd. We enjoyed our time on the beach watching the crowds and contestants. Click any of the photos for another view.

As it turned out, the parking crew directed us onto some soft sand so we were stuck waiting for the person parked behind us to leave so we could back onto a solid base. After waiting an hour, so local crew of volunteers showed up to push us into an area of the sand where our rented car could hold its own weight.

Thursday, June 14, 2012: I've come to the part of the story where our plan to save money by renting a car may not work this time. It worked before. This time, I got talked into the extra insurance policy which doubled the car rental fee. The agent explained that our insurance would pay for damage repairs less our deductible (which I already knew) but he went on to explain that our insurance would NOT pay for loss of income to the agency while the car could not be rented. So without the extra insurance, we would essentially have to pay to rent the car until it was repaired. Of course, any driving is always a gamble and one always hopes to NOT have an accident but that's why they call them accidents. We will have to consider the risk more carefully when we rent next time. Another factor we had not expected, the price of fuel fell and in most cases, diesel was less expensive than unleaded, unusual! I did find a fuel location where the price of unleaded was the same as diesel, $3.99 per gallon. So the car rental fee including fuel for three days amounted to $182.21. The price of diesel alone for the round trip to Canon Beach and return would have been $135. So the savings for this trip was not as clear as the savings in previous trips. Another interesting part of this story, when we returned the car on Sunday night and approached the key-dropbox, I noticed the lock to the box on the ground and the box door open exposing all the returned keys inside. Anyone would have their pick of any car in the lot from about a dozen keys. There was no "emergency phone number" posted on the door so I called the "800" Enterprise number. The person answering the phone seemed confused but said she would take care of it. I immediately heard the phone ringing inside the empty office building. I decided NOT to leave the lot until I called "911" and reported what I had found. Within a few minutes a young Roseburg policeman arrived. I learned from him that the Enterprise manager had been called and was about 15 minutes from arriving. The police officer said he would wait so Gwen and I left after a long day of driving.

Sunday, June 17, 2012: Today is Father's Day so I spent my time riding my bike in the morning but home in time to write, "David Letterman's Top Ten Reasons to Park at Timber Valley" for a friend here at the park who wants to do more marketing of the park. Gwen says "it's not funny enough", so I will have to discuss the idea with my friend to learn what he likes. Then it was time for root beer floats at the clubhouse. Click the photo to see the group who, like me, could not pass up the attraction to a root beer float. The photo is of a card I received from Chloe and Noah, my grandchildren. My daughter also sent me a gift card for Amazon.com, my favorite place to shop. Gwen fixed some great fish for dinner. Now she's off to play games at the clubhouse and I'm working on the Web page while watching the weather channel. I think we are going to watch the science fiction show, "Falling Skies", together, later tonight.

Monday, June 18, 2012: This day was a "down" day but part of the day I ended up in Costco and today I learned something I have not known before. I've been a member of Costco nearly from the beginning of Costco history. Costco likes to create a "treasure hunt" experience for members. They do that by selling items Costco buyers find which are exceptional value or somewhat unique. But these treasures are available only while the supply lasts. If you are a Costco member, you know what I'm talking about. If you see a "treasure" today, you better buy it today because tomorrow it will be gone. Well, today I overheard a Costco employ explaining how to know if an item is here today and will not be restocked when the supply is gone. In the photo, the price tag shows the Costco order number, description and price. In the top right of the tag is a large asterisk. The asterisk marks items which will be gone when the supply is gone. The next time you're in Costco, look for the asterisk, another way to find the treasures.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012: The Chapter 9 rally continues today but before joining the fun, I grabbed the zero-turn mower and mowed the huge lawn above our unit again for the third time since arriving. After lunch, Gwen and I joined the rally at the Bocci Ball court where we learned to play the game. Click the photo for a wider view, especially of the golf cart spectators. As it turned out, Gwen is the better player and her team won. We barely finished the Bocci Ball game in time for a quick dinner then off to Bingo. Gwen always attends but this is my first time. I won two games at $4 prize per game which put us ahead by $4. Then we purchased 6 cards each for black-out which cost a total of $6. And... would you believe it, Gwen won black-out for a $30 prize. So tonight we are ahead when playing bingo. I'm still not convinced enough to play Bingo each week.

Thursday, June 21, 2012: Chapter 9 provided lunch (sandwiches) and dinner (baked potatoes). Of course this rally, like most of the Escapee rallies has lots of food. The baked potatoes were huge and lots of stuff to put on top of the potato; chili, cheese, chives, sour cream, butter and bacon bits. The rally attendees brought desserts to share so we had lots of choices for sweet stuff after finishing the potatoes. So we over-ate as usual and then drove to Roseburg to pick up Gwen's new glasses. Click the photo to see a panorama of the room full of hungry members and a table in the middle with lots of desserts.

Friday, June 22, 2012: Today was raining so we did what old folks do on a rainy afternoon, we watched a movie together in the clubhouse. Gwen and I picked the "loge" seats then watched "The Long, Long Trailer" with Desi and Lucy, made in 1953. It was pretty funny, especially for RVers to be watching this movie about neophytes learning to pull and live in a trailer. It's hard to imagine a 1953 Mercury convertable pulling a 40 foot trailer but Nicky continued to say it weighed only 3 tons (6,000 lbs) so perhaps that's possible. Our fifth wheel weighs closer to 8 tons and is only 36 feet long so apparently trailers were much lighter in those days. Of course, after Tacy (Lucy) fills the trailer with rocks and preserves, it was much heavier. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon. I tried to get some comments and cheering going from the viewers but they didn't catch on and Gwen kept telling ME to "be quiet". These folks need to learn how to enjoy a movie together!

Saturday, June 23, 2012: There are lots of golf carts at all the Escapee parks and Timber Valley is no different. The carts are used to travel around the park to attend clubhouse functions, haul propane tanks to refill location, and drive to the laundry room. A few of the residents want to do more with their electric vehicles so they purchased a GEM electric vehicle which is legal on city streets up to 35 MPH. My next door neighbor "JW" owns one of those and recently got the license from the DMV. Now he and Carole, his wife, can use the electric vehicle to drive anywhere roads lead at 35 MPH or less. At Timber Valley that means groceries, post office, hardware store, restaurants and the library are all available by electric vehicle. They are about $4,000 more than a golf cart. I like the idea of an electric vehicle but this one has limitations and the cost is considerably more than a golf cart. I'm not sure a person could drive it into town enough to justify the extra cost.

Sunday, June 24, 2012: Today was special because our friends Rich and Alice came to visit and see the area. Rich and Alice are from Grants Pass but they like to visit this area for the antique stores. We chose to have lunch at Tolly's Restaurant in Oakland, a location they know well and one of our favorites too. After lunch, we walked through Oakland visiting the many antique stores. Alice found exactly what she was looking for, a gift for her mother. The whole city of Oakland is an "antique" so it's appropriate that it have many antique stores. We enjoyed shopping together, Alice is a particularly good shopper.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012: Today was a special day for us. We drove to Roseburg with long-time, original Timber Valley resident, Jane who has a choice lot overlooking the entire park. The idea for Timber Valley came to Escapees, Chapter 9 back in 1987. Enough interest was generated and registrations began including Jane and her husband. By 1988, the land for the park had been purchased and construction began with much of the work done by the first lot holders of the park. It was great to hear the stories of park development and the news of the current residents. Jane was anxious to show us one of her favorite restaurants in Roseburg then we visited the Dollar Store looking for a special tea cup then on to Costco to buy some dog food for Morgan. Jane's favorite drink is a powdered mocha mix from Costco so she was grateful to visit Costco. We shared a bag of asparagus then Gwen and Jane ended the day with a card game in the clubhouse.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012: I have been writing our travel reports and this Website since 2005 and over the years we've gathered loyal readers. Bob and Lynn have been loyal readers for quite a long while and we hear from them every once in a while. They have just retired from their jobs in Alabama and have decided to take a four month trip across the USA to visit family and friends. We've been tracking them since they began and invited them to stop by Sutherlin to meet us in person. We met at our favorite breakfast locations, The White Horse Coffee Shop then brought them to the park to see what RV living looks like. After our short visit, they were off again to visit the Oregon coast. They aren't new to Oregon but just returning after living in Alabama for a few years. We wish them safe travels.

Sunday, July 1, 2012: This is the Calapooia Country Church located to the west of Sutherlin and right around the corner from the Rochester Covered bridge. It was built in 1906 by the Southern Episcopal Methodists then sold to Free Methodists in 1932. In 1970 the church was sold to a private party and has been slowly restored to its 1906 condition with only a few changes. One room was used as an antique shop until 2007 but since then the church is used only for weddings. I found the church while on a nice 27 mile bike ride. This is a rural road I found near Calapooia Creek and just around the corner from the Rochester Covered bridge. When I began the ride today, it was solid overcast but slowly began clearing to the partly cloudy sky you see in the photo. Click the photo for a larger view.

Monday, July 2, 2012: The day began with Stage 2 of Tour de France then a ride of my own. It's the fresh air, the speed under my own power, the great scenery, the sweat pouring into my eyes, achieving the summit (maybe a little faster than the day before), talking to the cows and sheep as I pass ... that's only a few of the reasons for riding. Maybe I get smarter (or younger) too. The afternoon ended with the first Monday potluck at the clubhouse. Good food.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012: A very busy day. We got up early to help decorate Jerdis and Joan's Ford Think (spelled with an upside down "i"). They are an all electric vehicle made only one year, 2002. General Motors makes the GEM and continues to make them today. At 10am, the golf carts line up for a parade through the park. The leader of the parade must have thought we were in a race because he drove too fast and in a straight line. I got to drive the THINK because Jerdis has an arm in a cast and Joan was kind enough to let me drive. I swirved back and forth on the road honking the horn. A few carts in front of us thought ahead and had candy to throw at spectators. We hadn't thought of that (but we will next year) so I stopped along the parade route and picked up candy off the road so we'd have something to give out when the time came. After the parade came Bocce Ball. Gwen's softball pitching experience make her a "ringer" for whatever team she was on. Everyone wanted her on their team. Then came lots of food. It was a bring-your-own-meet potluck with everyone bringing something else to share. Lots of really good salads, baked beans, pasta and desserts. Click any of the photos for additional views.

Monday, July 9, 2012: The tire problem was corrected to Ralph's satisfaction early this morning so we were on the road again early. Eastern Oregon is dry and hot during the summer months except for the few thunderstorms passing through. We were fortunate to be cooled by the thunderheads but no rain. The roads are almost always two lane and sometime serpentine through tiny canyons created by the few rivers and creeks in the area. We were still thinking of camping at the Grant County Fairground in John Day but arrived at noon so decided on lunch instead then driving on looking for something cooler since it was approaching 100 degrees. Our next destination was Sumpter, Oregon hoping to see the Sumpter Dredge tomorrow. We knew we had to climb several mountain passes through the National Forest so hoped for free dispersed (boon-dock) camping off one of the forest service roads. We found exactly what we were looking for near the top of the pass only ten miles from Sumpter. Again, the thunderheads helped to cool us down but no rain. Our campsite is below with us sitting in the shade of a cooling stand of Douglas Fir trees. Click any of the photos for additional views. As evening approached we began to hear forest "night sounds". One of those sounds came from a herd of cattle nearby (photo under the campsite photo). The other sounds were of coyotes and a trumpeting elk nearby. Otherwise, this was a perfectly quiet location. Morgan and Annie approved because they had the freedom of the forest, which they both prefer.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012: The ladies decided to rest at camp while Ralph and I went exploring in nearby Sumpter. The Sumpter Dredge is one of the Oregon State Parks. This dredge plowed eight miles of gravel in the Powder River drainage near the town of Sumpter. The dredge was in operation from the early 1900's to 1954. It was so costly to run the dredge it could hardly break even with the amount of gold dredged with the cost of dredging. When it finally stopped in 1954 the dredging company was $100,000 in debt.

Saturday, July 14, 2012: We drove two vehicles from Oxbow to Joseph, Oregon because we couldn't leave Morgan for such a long time. We communicated by CB radio the whole trip so still got to talk about what we were seeing. To get to Joseph on Forest Service Road 39 is only 62 miles but it is on a narrow mountain road with many switch backs so will take two hours or more depending upon the number of times we stop for photographs. Our only stop was at the Hells Canyon Overlook peering down into the canyon where our trailers are parked. It is hazy due to huge brush fires in south east Oregon. Click the photo for a panorama. Our next stop, after reaching the valley beyond the mountains, was at Wallowa Lake, a beautiful lake at the base of the Eagle Cap Mountain Wilderness area. Ralph is photographing one of the many bronze statues in downtown Joseph. Joseph, Oregon is an arts and crafts town and one of the unique crafts is a bronze foundry where many bronze works of art are created. Click either of these photos for additional views.

Sunday, July 15, 2012: Today was moving day from Hells Canyon to Meridian, Idaho where Gwen's son and grand kids live. We never stay at a KOA but this Meridian Park has sold out to KOA and this park is close to Gwen's grandchildren. You can see how the park crams us all together ... it's like a used RV lot. Our truck is parked only a few inches from the HitchHiker sewer hose and we must be careful not to run over it. The park does give us 50 AMPs of power but the overnight price is about twice what we normally pay. Still, it could be worse, it could be 106 outside rather than the 90 we saw when driving into town. Gwen has already made one visit to the grand kids and we will see them again tomorrow. There is a small amount of lawn in the rear of the trailer for Morgan.

Monday, July 16, 2012: While visiting eastern Oregon, we learned of a quilt shop promotion called the Sage Brush Shop Hop where ten quilt shops were offering treats and prizes just for visiting the shops. Gwen was able to visit the shop in Joseph, Enterprise, Halfway, two in Baker City and Ontario; so she visited six of the ten. Each gave a pattern for a square to a quilt plus the fabric to make that square. They also gave prizes of quilting accessories plus cookies and bottled water. Gwen really enjoyed visiting these shops and most had great inventory and finished quilts as examples of what quilt makers could do. I thought this was a great promotion idea and all the shops seemed to be exceptionally busy with customers visiting from all over Oregon and Idaho. Click the photo for another view.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012: Today was our first hot day and we invited Gwen's Idaho family (her son and grandchildren) to our trailer for dinner. The inside of the trailer was not much cooler than outside so we sat on the picnic table in the shade for dinner. The next step was for the kids to go swimming in the park pool then a little bit of live blue grass happening in the park clubhouse. Next ... we took off to a cool location, a frozen yogurt shop. It was a fun time with family.

Thursday, July 19, 2012: After driving all day from Meridian, Idaho we stopped to camp between McCall, Idaho and Lolo, Montana at a national forest campground called Wilderness Gateway Campground on the Lochsa River. The good part about the campground was that is was cheap (only $4 with a senior access pass), had water, paved roads and sites and relatively nice campsites. The disappointment was the high temperatures, nearly 100 and did not cool down quickly at night. Also, this is a popular campground so, busy, noisy with many spots reserved making them unavailable to us. The drive to this location was incredible scenery, usually next to a river with steep mountains on both sides and lots of conifers around. White Bird pass was a tough pull but the truck did find and the new PacBrake did great descending the other side. Click the photo for a sample of the views.

Friday, July 20, 2012: We traveled to the top of Lolo Pass today on the Idaho, Montana border. This is where Lewis and Clark crossed the Bitterroot Mountains so there is lots of history and a visitor center at the top. We drove through Lolo, Montana and on into Missoula, Montana for lunch, fuel and a few supplies at Walmart. Then we drove 19 miles north to Huson, Montana where Ralph and Janet have friends, John and Ivie with a huge range and lots of places for two RVs to camp. They will allow us to camp at their beautiful ranch for an extended time while we explore this part of Montana. Click the photo to see our camping location from John and Ivy's porch. Morgan has already found their pond and loves the wide open spaces to run while Annie likes the opportunity to hunt for squirrels

Wednesday, July 25, 2012: We visited a vintage, restored Airstream which was set up in period accessories. This was the only trailer at a vintage car show. There were many really well restored autos but I was attracted to the Airstream. Click the photo to see the arrangement of the period accessories. My grandparents toured for many years in a 30 foot Airstream about the same year as this unit. They crossed the USA every year for at least ten years. These trailers had no holding tanks nor 12 volt lighting. Yet, you can see that they can be made comfortable. Click here for a panorama view of the interior.

Thursday, July 26, 2012: We spent this day doing some errands in Missoula, mainly to pick up paint to refinish the stairs on the trailer. Yesterday John welded a crack in the stair metal and we replaced one of the cross pieces with a heavier gauge. I thought I had paint on hand but as it turned out, I didn't. J C Penney was also promoting a special free USA Olympic t-shirt with any purchase so we made some small purchases to get those t-shirts. We also visited Costco for a small purchase.

The photographs are of a few of the cars I saw at the car show last weekend. I especially liked the 1959 Corvette because it was the same body style I rode in as a paperboy in 1958. My manager purchased a new 1958 Corvette and gave me a ride. It was my first ride in a car that forced passengers into the seat on acceleration. Click both photos for additional views.

Saturday, July 28, 2012: Today was the final day for visiting with John and Ivie. It was also a day to pack up and get ready to move tomorrow. The special thing about today was that it was Ralph's birthday so we drove to a special dinner on the Clark Fork river in the little town of Aberton, ten miles to the northwest. Aberton is a tiny town but with a great restaurant and a good example of ... "If you build it, they will come". The restaurant was crowded and even had live music besides good food. You can see the Clark Fork River out the window. Just across the river is a busy railroad track, we saw three trains in the time it took us to eat dinner. John, Ralph and I sat on the left side of the table while Janet, Gwen and Ivie sat on the other side. After dinner we walked a bridge across the Clark Fork, you can see Ivie and Gwen peering off the bridge behind the dinner photo, just click the photo. We finished the day with Ivie's great upside-down pineapple cake.

Sunday, July 29, 2012: Today was travel day. We moved from Huson, Montana to Swan Lake, Montana (further north). On the way, we stopped at the All American Museum in Polson, Montana. It's basically a collection of vintage items arranged by topic (military, diner, laundry, kitchen, tractors, timber, cars, boats, school house, etc.) There was a total of 5 acres and 40 buildings to exam. Of course, the first item which caught our eye was this old motor home. It was apparently built in the 1950s and was probably the best technology of the day. It took us more than an hour to wander through the museum yard and buildings. Ralph was most impressed with all the vintage items. You've got to figure that 50 years from now, folks will be touring a museum of the high technology items we use today and marvel at how crude, slow and inconvenient they are. Click both photos for additional views.

Monday, July 30, 2012: After traveling all day yesterday, we arrived at our Montana destination near Bigfork, Montana. This is Swan Lake Campground, a National Forest Service campground so we get half off the price with our Senior Pass. It is a beautiful and busy campground but no power, sewer and the water is from a common faucet so a camper must fill the fresh water tank upon arriving or transport the water to the campsite in some fashion. It is warm, 90 degrees, plus or minus a few degrees. The flies and mosquitos have found us here but so far, not too bad. Swan Lake is a large enough lake to enjoy with a nice power boat.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012: Ralph and I visited Morley Canoes, only a quarter mile from our campsite in Swan Lake campground. Greg builds strip canoes, row boats, rowing shells, kayaks and paddle boards. He has a very small show room with only a few boats for sale. Nearly all the boats he builds are ordered by customers from photographs of the many boats he has built in the past. The boats are hand built from strips of cedar the covered with fiberglass and resin. From the time a customer places and order, it is one year to delivery. Each boat is custom built to the customer specifications. They are beautiful boats. To me, to gorgeous to actually use but Greg seems to take offense with that statement. He wants his boats to be used. He takes orders all summer and builds them during the winter months. The two surfboard looking items behind Greg are paddle boards. The user stands and paddles while balancing on the boards. This is becoming a very popular sport.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012: We had errands to do today in Kalispell. When those were completed Gwen and I took ourselves on a short adventure 15 miles north of Kalispell into Whitefish. It turns out to be a resort town with high food prices and most store catering to the resort crowd (restaurants, coffee shops, souvenir shops, and sporting goods for both winter and summer sports). I lived on the north shore of Lake Tahoe for thirteen years so I've seen and skied some world class ski areas. The Whitefish resort and ski mountain look to be as big as any I've seen. With the "Empire Builder" Amtrak coming through Whitefish each day I can imagine ski tourists arriving by train in the winter months for a ski vacation from both eastern and western locations. The main part of town is compact, easy to walk from restaurant to frozen yogurt shop and pick up a spare T-shirt at one of the apparel shops. Click the photo for another view of downtown Whitefish.

Monday, August 6, 2012: After a long day of traveling from Swan Lake, Montana, we drove to the Priest River National Forest Service campgrounds only to learn they were full and taking names onto a waitlist. We decided to return to Sandpoint, Idaho to the Bonner County Fairgrounds where we knew space was available. Gwen has a special friend to visit in Idaho tomorrow about 40 miles to the south and I am anxious to visit the historic district of Sandpoint. In a different lifetime when I was a private pilot I flew to Sandpoint several times with a friend who owned property nearby. He would pay for the fuel and I enjoyed the flying time. My plane was based in Truckee, California. I owned a nice Turbocharged Piper with retractable landing gear so the flying time from Truckee to Sandpoint was only 4 hours. However, I never really got to visit the town so finally I get my chance. Of course we feel right at home here at the fairground. Trains run nearby so we get to hear the whistle as if it's only a few yards away. Morgan has lots of running room at the fairground.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012: We have moved to Priest Lake, Idaho, about 50 miles northwest of Sandpoint. This is a fine, National Forest Service campground with paved roads and spaces but no hookups so fairly cheap with a Senior Access pass, only $8 per night. The lake is beautiful and warm, click the photo to see Gwen with Morgan in the lake. Our plan is to float in the lake tomorrow while the weather is still hot. The surprise is how well developed the area is, even though remote, there is a nice village of stores including a huge hardware store. The biggest surprise is 4G Verizon service ... I don't even have that in Sutherlin. The mountain road access is also very easy, no steep grades and a wide, two lane road. We were lucky to have Ralph and Janet already in the park because they saved us a perfect space. Next year, they plan to make these spaces reservable, but this year, first come, first served. Here, we don't get the sound of trains, automobiles and planes as we did in the Bonner County Fairground. There is the sound of power boat engines during the day and crackling campfires in the evening.

Thursday, August 9, 2012: After a morning walk with Morgan we decided to take a drive to the east side of Priest Lake. We stopped at the lake information center kiosk and happened to meet the "brochure lady" refilling the slots with lake brochures. I asked for a lunchtime recommendation on the east side of the lake and she told us of Cavenaugh's. This turned out to be a resort with dining right on the lake so we could not pass up the opportunity. We took our time at lunch to enjoy the bay at the same time. Click the photo to see another view. After lunch we continued down the east side to Indian Creek State Park where we toured the very cramped and crowded campground plus checked out the store for gifts and Ralph got strawberry cheese cake ice cream. I guess we will try sitting in the lake tomorrow.

Saturday, August 11, 2012: Today we visited the Autumn's Loft art gallery and rustic furniture shop for an artist's demonstration day. This is a relatively new shop in the Priest Lake area with some very fine rustic furniture and other arts and crafts. Ralph and I were most interested in the rustic furniture. We met Ranny, the furniture builder and he showed us some of the tools he uses to manufacture the furniture from logs and branches. Ranny has his own forest, own saw mill and planer so is able to build the furniture from custom made boards and planks made especially for the furniture piece he is building. Some items are simple signs with carved letters done by his wife Gay (click the photo to see Gay). Other pieces are benches, stools, tables, hat stands, coffee tables, dining room tables and chairs, bed frames and picture frames. The whole family is involved in one way or another since Autumn is Gay's mother and Ranny/Gay have children working in the business also. We must have admired their work for more than an hour, then moved on to other quality items in their store. photographs, jewelry, paintings, lamps, and metal sculptures. Ralph and I took photographs of several items thinking ahead to our time in Park Sierra where we will have access to a complete woodworking shop. We continued to call these items our "Park Sierra projects".

Sunday, August 12, 2012: This is Charlie and Doris who are the camphosts for the Outlet Bay Campground which is a National Forest Campground. We were also camphosts at six National Forest Campgrounds back in 2010. In our case, the National Forest had subcontracted with California Land Management (CLM) to manage the campgrounds, so we worked for and got paychecks from CLM, not the National Forest. The National Forest has subcontract with American Land and Leisure (AL&L)to manage the Outlet Bay Campground so Charlie and Doris must answer to and get paid by AL&L. I told them of our experience with CLM and asked how they were doing. I learned that AL&L only paid each of them 15 hours per week to manage this huge campground. They had found it impossible to do all the work in that short time and felt they worked for free much of the week. I made sure they knew of Workamper News. It not only helps both employers find help and workampers find jobs it has a rating system where workampers can rate the employers they work for. I already knew that AL&L had a terrible reputation for taking advantage of their employees and not paying them for the amount of time it takes to keep the campgrounds clean. The reports I read and what Charlie and Doris repeated was that their manager tells them NOT to work so hard and stop putting in so many hours. But I know from my experience and from watching other campground hosts, if you stop working when your paid hours are exhausted, the trash cans fill, restrooms get dirty, campsites are not clean making the hours you DO work that much more difficult because the load is now heavier. Campers are not happy because the campground is not kept clean. Also, campers are always asking questions whether your sign says "Off Duty" or not. CLM has an honest policy of paying for reasonable amount of hours to get the job done. Both Gwen and I were happy with the support given to us by CLM so I told Charlie and Doris NOT to work for AL&L again, instead contact CLM. Of course it always depends upon the manager you work for so I gave them the contact information for Wayne and Char, the managers we worked for, are very fine people and give their hosts lots of support. If you are considering workamping, you need to pay attention to what others have learned and reported in Workamper News.

Monday, August 13, 2012: This was a travel day from Priest Lake, Idaho to Republic, Washington. Ralph and Janet have a cousin who owns lots of acres in this countryside and have allowed us to camp near their log home. Ron and Ja (pronounced Jay) have lived here for 7 years and add more lawn each year. Currently Ron says the lawn mowing is no problem, it only takes 3 hours to mow the lawns (every three days). Ja fixed a wonderful speghetti dinner and we actually had a campfire which seems strange after a 97 degree day but it cooled off fast. This location is only 20 miles from Canada but according to Ron, the winter months "are not that bad". We finished the evening by practicing Horse Shoes, Ron's favorite game.

I have new tires on my trailer, two from Les Schwab purchased in the Pacific Northwest and two purchased in Roseville, California (these two were replacement tires for a previous blow out, as noted below, for tires purchased in Arizona because there is no Les Schwab in Arizona) at Discount Tires (also known as America's Tires). My friends Ralph and Terry also purchased Discount tires and have had several tire failures (Ralph has had three tire failures from his Discount Tire purchases). So on this trip, one of my new (one year old) Discount tires blew but did no damage to the trailer. This was the Discount tire given to me as a replacement from last years Discount tire blowout. You can click the photo above to see Ralph helping with the tire replacement. This time I chose to buy two new Les Schwab tires to replace these Discount tires. Obviously, I can't recommend buying from Discount or America's tire stores.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012: Republic, Washington is the county seat for Ferry County. There are 900 residents in Republic and 7,000 residents in the entire county. There is no traffic signal in the entire county and no four lanes roads. Ron and Ja are going to Spokane this week for shopping and other errands. It is 3 hours driving time one way to Spokane, the nearest Costco. The nearest Walmart is 50 miles over a steep pass. I mention all this because I find it very interesting walking downtown Republic. We have visited many towns this size in the last two years. Virtually all these small towns have a business district about this size but nearly all have 50% or more commercial buildings empty and many open businesses look depressed. Republic is different. I found only two small commercial buildings empty with most of the open businesses with well stocked inventory. Additionally, the stores had a large variety of inventory, for example, the clothing store I visited also stocked sewing supplies, fabric, yarn, shoes and jewelry. I attribute the health of the business community to several factors. One of the main contributors is the absence of a Walmart store. If you combine all these tiny shops in Republic, they would make up the inventory and variety in one Walmart store. I appreciate shopping these small stores. In most cases, the clerk who wants to help me is also the owner of the shop. They know the merchandise and are interested in serving my need. I enjoy talking with them and they seem to enjoy their "job". I don't usually find that to be the case when talking with a Walmart employee who is anxious for his minimum wage shift to end. Wage isn't everything, I'll bet most of these store owners don't make minimum wage. Additionally, you can walk this town and imagine the stores and inventory were very much the same in 1930. Click the photo for a panorama.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012: This was a busy day. I began by visiting Les Schwab Tire (LS) company because it was LS in Grants Pass who installed new brakes onto my trailer and I'm not exactly satisfied they are working properly. I wanted to check with the manager here concerning the recommendation given to me in Grants Pass. This manager disagreed with the recommendation and prefers to check the brakes himself. That will happen tomorrow. Later, Gwen got a haircut at a special location introduced by Ja while I went to the library for Internet access. I was at the library for 2 hours where Gwen met me after the haircut. We walked up the main street together to the Republic Brewery where we met Janet, Ron, Ja and Ralph for refreshment before moving on to the only Mexican restaurant in town. It was a fun time with friends. You can click the photo to enlarge.

Friday, August 17, 2012: On July 20 a "hurricane force wind" blew down thousands of trees in northeastern Washington. We went for a drive today and saw many of the downed trees ourselves. Many were simply uprooted while others were topped. The weathermen claim it was only a "hurricane force wind" but what we saw looked a lot like the tornado distruction we saw last year in Mississippi. Ron and Ja think they lost more than 400 trees on their property, many were right around the house. Everyone in the area had to carry a chainsaw because all roads were blocked with downed trees. The power was disrupted for six days while crews repairs the downed powerlines. We saw posters in most windows applied by rescue teams to indicate that a house, farm or business had been checked as was OK.

Sunday, August 18, 2012: We toured the Grand Coulee Dam, only 1.5 hours from our camping location. This is the largest dam in north America built in 1933 to 1941 providing thousands of jobs during the depression. It was originally designed and built to provide irrigation water to nearly one million acres in northeast Washington by taping the water in the Columbia River. When World War II began power was needed and generators were added to the dam. Now it generates a major source of power for the Pacific northwest. We took the dam tour but much was to go wrong during out tour. First, for the last few days, a 8,000 acre wildfire was happening along the northeast shore of the Columbia so it was smoky with poor visibility. Second, after our tour bus arrived at the dam and we unloaded into the dam entrance, a fire alarm was sounded in the control building below us and the elevators were turned off so we could not enter the dam. All we could do was stand on top of the entrance and listen to our tour guide talk about the dam. The security was all around. We had to pass through a metal detector to take the tour and a guard with an M16 rifle accompanied us where ever we went. We were told that security was increase after the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 attacks. Click any of the photos for additional views.

Monday, August 21, 2012: Finally I get the chance to ride the range on Ron's ATV. There is more than 200 acres here to ride and some steep climbing for the best views. It has been many years since I've been on an ATV so I needed some refresher lessons. I was glad it was an ATV and not a horse. The last time I was on a horse, I couldn't walk for three days. Click the photo for a panorama of the view as the top of the mountain. The ranch house is out of site to the left of the panorama. The other houses are rental properties belonging to Ron and Ja.

While doing the laundry today, I met Paul who has been cycle touring the USA for five years. It has occurred to me that Paul is doing the same thing we are doing but only carries 300 lbs (weight of the bike, trailer, all gear and food) rather than the 24,000 lbs we carry (weight of the truck, trailer, all gear and food). It takes him a little longer to get around the US but he doesn't have to worry about the cost of diesel. I also got the impression that he was retired and could just afford this form of living and no more. That's also just like us, we can just afford this form of living and no more. I was able to talk with Paul about his travels and learned his favorite states plus states which treated him poorly. For example, he had several items stolen when visiting Florida. He no longer carries a cell phone because friends would call him wanting to talk and to learn where he was. He would talk over his monthly limit costing money he did not have to spend. He is currently on his way to Texas after touring the Washington state. The trailer he is towing is a BOB trailer. When I cycle toured, I also pulled a BOB trailer and found it to be very sturdy. Paul has experienced broken spokes on the rear wheel of his bike and blames the weight of the BOB. He recently switched to steel rims hoping that will stop the problems. I did not experience those problems. He left the laundry for the library around the corner looking for Internet access, where I have also spent time getting Internet access.

Thursday, August 23, 2012: Morgan is posing at our campsite in the Newhalem Creek Campground in the Cascades National Park. The canopy is so heavy there is no chance for solar charging and no chance for TV satellite reception. Since we switched to Verizon Internet, we were surprised to get good Internet and cell reception off some cell tower somewhere nearby. This is a "double" space so it cost us $9 per day with our senior access pass. A single site rents for $6 per day with the pass. There are no hookups of any kind and the water is located at the dump station near the entrance. The roads and sites are paved and the tables are new. Currently, the campground is only 25% occupied but all sites are reserved for this weekend so it will be busy. Today we had the need to visit the nearest pharmacy which we learned was in the tiny town of Concrete, Washington, 32 miles from our campsite. Click the photo to see a view of the Skaget River as it flows through our

Sunday, August 26, 2012: Our day began by hiking to the North Cascade Institute for a lunch treat for all four of us. We had learned of the $5 lunch yesterday and wanted to share the treasure with Gwen and Janet. We were not disappointed, After the lunch treat, Gwen and I hiked to Ladder Creek Falls behind the Gorge Powerhouse. This falls is lighted in different colors at night for the entertainment of tourists. This was a tradition begun by J.D. Ross, the engineer of the dam project in 1920. After the falls hike, Gwen and I hiked the rest of the way back to our campsite through the Trail of Cedars, an interpretive trail with many information plaques along the way. Click the photo to see more of the Ladder Creek Falls.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012: What a day! We got up early not knowing how long it would take us to travel from the North Cascade National Park to Coupville where the ferry leaves for Port Townsend. We had 1:15 sailing reservations for the ferry and wanted to be sure we were on time. We were on the road before 8am. As it turned out, we had no traffic problems and arrived in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island by 10am. That's only 17 miles from the ferry terminal. We stopped for brunch then went for a walk in downtown, historic Oak Harbor. We still arrived at the terminal by 12:30 so Ralph and Janet got waved onto the 12:30 ferry but we did NOT so had to wave good bye to our traveling partners as they sailed away. Click all photos for additional views.

Sunday, September 2, 2012: After Ralph, Janet, Gwen and I visited the farmer's market in Chimacum, Gwen and I drove to Sequim (pronounced Sqwim) for cheap fuel and to visit one of the many Lavender Farms in the area. Gwen was hoping to find some deals on plants because she would like to plant Lavender in pots around our new leaseholder's lot in Timber Valley. There are several varieties of Lavender to choose from so Gwen gets onto her phone to research the variety which might be best back in Oregon. We will be returning on Tuesday and Gwen is excited about getting started. While at the Lavender farm I noticed this very successful bird feeder. It was almost always full of birds on every crossbar. Click the photo to see what I'm talking about. While in Sequim, we also visited Costco but bought nothing except hot dogs. It was a beautiful clear day ... I don't understand why the folks from Washington complain about all the "gray days". (I'm joking ... I know winter can go for months with no sun in this area.)

Monday, September 3, 2012: This was a relaxing Labor Day, walking Morgan, reading a book, doing laundry then having barbequed hamburgers in the clubhouse with the Evergreen members. This was also the day we were to pack for moving back to Sutherlin tomorrow but we have a coolant leak in the truck and have decided to get it repaired before traveling the 350 miles back to Timber Valley Park. The delay is a disappointment but I couldn't come up with a good reason to take the chance of something serious happening during our return trip.

Look at this gorgeous day. The weather was perfect. We are all from rural Oregon so going to the city is a big deal for us. Crowds of people at the Pike Street Market.

Once we arrived in downtown Seattle we headed straight to lunch at Ivars Acres of Clams restaurant. As it turned out, we got the best seat in the place with an open window onto the bay overlooking the Seattle Fire Department boat and the ferry terminal. The price of lunch was actually affordable and very good food too.

After lunch we hiked the three blocks to the Pike Street Public Market where the crowds were buying fish, farm produce, flowers and souvenirs. We bought Lavender pasta and a wonderful bunch of flowers for only $5.

We made the 3 pm return ferry before the commute traffic began so it was a quick trip to downtown Seattle and very pleasant.

While returning, I got a call from my mechanic and learned it would cost only $400 to replace my water pump. I was expecting more since it seemed pretty complicated to me. Still, after the expense of the trailer tire blow-out, another big hit like this makes me wonder if we can really afford to travel. Additionally, it cost $4.33 per gallon for diesel the last time I filled up. We will have to stay put a few months to recover from the expenses of our current travels.

So the new plan is to travel back to Oregon on Thursday assuming the water pump is replaced tomorrow.