Category Archives: Elks

Some Like It Hot

I mentioned the hot weather in Coeur d’Alene in my last post and I wasn’t kidding. The almanac shows we hit 100 degrees on Sunday, 97 on Monday and 95 is today’s forecast. Our usual MO is to leave Arizona by the end of March or mid-April at the latest and usually we’ll start moving north to cooler temperatures.

This year, we stayed at Viewpoint in Mesa, Arizona until the end of April. We moved to Springerville, Arizona hoping the higher elevation would bring cooler temperatures. It was cooler there than the metro Phoenix area, but still quite warm. Then we moved to Cortez, Colorado and once again were hit with warmer than usual temperatures.

We found relief from the heat most of the time in Mount Vernon in western Washington and the climate there has much more humidity than we’re used to. But, since leaving western Washington we’ve been in hot, dry weather. Last evening, some high clouds moved in the area – it made a great sunset. I haven’t posted a sunset picture in a while, so here it is.

I was surprised to be woken at 4am by the sound of raindrops on the roof. It did’t rain hard and only lasted for about half an hour.

With the heat, I haven’t been very active – just mostly practicing social distance conversation via ham radio. Donna’s braved the heat with a couple of bicycle rides, but nothing too ambitious.

On Sunday, I had a great time on the 20-meter band. I made a couple of contacts that were unbelievable. I talked to a guy named Joan (he pronounced it John) in Catalonia, Spain – about 60 miles north of Barcelona. He lives out in the country near the border with France. He’s been a ham radio operator since he was 10 years old – I think he’s in his 40s now. He has an elaborate radio set up with an unbelievable array of antennas. He likes to make contact with operators in North America and Russia. He speaks excellent English and I assume he speaks Russian as well.

The other really interesting contact was with a guy in Slovenia. His name is Janez and he lives in Vhrnika, Slovenia. Slovenia is in Europe – it’s bordered to the south by Croatia, Italy is on the western border and Austria is north. He makes contacts all over the world and entering contests for the number of countries contacted is his hobby. He speaks good English. Here’s a link to his webpage.

I think I was able to make these long distance contacts for a couple of reasons. First, conditions for propagation of High Frequency (HF) signals were very good on Sunday. My signal bounced from the upper atmosphere back to earth at least twice to reach Vhrinka – over 5,300 miles away from Coeur d’Alene. More importantly, these guys had powerful systems with excellent antennas. They could blast out a strong signal for me to receive and their systems were sensitive enough to lock in my weaker signal and hear me fine. Ham radio contacts are a lot of fun and perfectly safe in this pandemic environment.

Yesterday, I tried two HF bands – 20 meters and 40 meters. I had a lot of noise on 20. Although I did pick up a signal from Hawaii, mostly the reception had interference. On 40 meters, I had no luck at all. I’m not sure how much of it was due to atmospheric conditions or if it was interference from some electronic device here at the Elk’s Lodge.

Saturday morning we hit the farmers’ market again. It was a little more crowded than last time and Donna found some good buys on fresh produce. She found leeks and fennel for dishes she wanted to make and also found some of the freshest celery she’s ever seen. After we came home, she decided that she needed to go back to get some mushrooms. We saw a vendor with fresh mushrooms – picked the night before. Donna walked back to the market – it’s about half a mile from here – and bought a pint of pearl oyster mushrooms.

She made a chicken dish with leeks and mushrooms in a cream sauce. It was excellent!

Chicken with black rice and broccoli on the side

She prepared another very tasty meal on Sunday – shrimp with feta and fennel over riced cauliflower. She used a package of shelf-stable riced cauliflower from Costco and honestly I couldn’t find much difference from the cauliflower rice she prepares with fresh cauliflower.

Yesterday, I gave Midget-San the spa treatment. I cleaned the exterior with Meguiar’s waterless spray cleaner, then applied Mother’s CMX ceramic coating. I also cleaned the interior with a vinyl and leather cleaner and treated it with Armorall.

This afternoon I plan to sit in the shade and play on the radio – it’ll be too hot to do much else. I know 95 degrees doesn’t get much sympathy from my friends in the Phoenix area, but it’s still hot! Donna’s out for a bike ride as I type this – I expect to see her soon. The temperature should drop to a more reasonable 80 degrees or so by the end of the week. We’ll extend our stay here for another week.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Code Talkers

We had cooler weather for our final days in Winthrop. The temperature topped out at 77 degrees on Wednesday and was slightly warmer on Thursday. We took a drive in Midget-San up to Twin Lakes on Wednesday. We wanted to look at the Big Twin RV Park. It looks like a nice place – spacious and right on Big Twin Lake. The lake is stocked with trout and has easy access for the kayak. We’ll keep this place in mind for the future.

We like Pine Near RV Park in Winthrop, but really the main reason was the easy access to town. It’s on Castle Street, on a bluff overlooking Riverside Avenue (WA20) which is the main street in town. In the past we were able to walk through the Shaefer Museum property and take the stairs in back down to Riverside Avenue. With the pandemic, Shaefer Museum is closed and the entrance is locked.

Donna and I took a walk through Pine Near and checked out one of the teepees they rent. They have three teepees and a couple of rental cabins.

The sign in front of one teepee said “Come on in” the other one said “Do not disturb.” So we looked inside the one with the welcoming sign.

There were three futons inside. It’s an interesting idea and maybe it would be fun for camping with children – not really my cup of tea though.

Donna prepared fish poached in tomatoes, saffron and white wine for dinner. She bought wild Alaskan cod at the Skagit Valley Food Co-op in Mount Vernon and it was delicious. It must have been cut from a large cod because the meat consisted of large flakes.

Thursday we drove to Twisp and took a look around. As expected, most of it was closed. We also checked out another RV park called Riverbend RV Park. This park is located right on the Methow (met-HOW) River. Most of the sites are meant to be pulled into nose first with a view of the river. They had a few sites that would be long enough for us without dropping the trailer. It’s another place we’ll keep in mind for the next time we’re up this way.

Donna took a bicycle ride Thursday and did a loop. She went out on West Chewuch Road – it’s west of the Chewuch River. This is another interesting and hard to pronounce name. It was once spelled Chewak – from 1904 to 1960. Then the official spelling was changed to Chewack. In 1987, the spelling changed again to Chewuch. The second syllable doesn’t have a ch sound like the word “such”. It’s more of an “ack” sound.

She crossed the river well north of town and hit Eastside Chewuch Road.

Her route back to town took her past Pearrygin State Park. She stopped and shot a photo of a doe and her fawn.

I played around with my ham radio – I’m really enjoying the 20-meter band. I’ve made several long distance contacts – Alaska, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Ohio, New York, Michigan and on Thursday evening, I picked up on a conversation between a ham operator in Costa Rica and a guy in Alaska. My signal wasn’t strong enough to reach the guy in Costa Rica, but he had a powerful transmitter and I could clearly hear him!

I had a conversation with a guy in the Navajo Nation. He had a special event call sign of N7C. The event he was promoting was National Code Talkers Day. The Code Talkers of World War Two were vital to the US in the Pacific theater. They devised a code that couldn’t be broken. They were all Navajo and used their language as the basis for their code.

The way it worked was, they used a Navajo word that would be translated to English. The first letter of the English word would represent the letter of the code. For eample, if they wanted to say the letter “A”, they had three ways to do it. They could say wol-la-chee which translates to ant, or they could say be-la-sana which translates to apple, or they could say tse-nil which translates to axe. Any one of these three words would represent the letter “A”.

So, this guy – his name was Herb – was in the Navajo Nation, west of Shiprock, New Mexico. I think he was near Teec Nos Pos which is just west of the Arizona-New Mexico border. He was trying get as many contacts as he could to direct people to a special website for the event. I won’t include a link because I don’t think it’ll exist after this weekend – it’s on the QRZ ham site.

We left Winthrop Friday morning. We drove east on WA20 past Twisp, then headed down WA153 which brought us to the Columbia River at Pateros where we hit US97. We were following our bread crumbs from our trip coming west, but this time I didn’t follow WA174 to Grand Coulee. Instead, I followed WA17 south to Coulee City. This is a little longer than going through Grand Coulee, but it avoids the steep climbs and descents and it’s a much easier drive – both on me and on the coach.

We’re back at the Elk’s Lodge in Coeur d’Alene. After getting set up, we walked east on Prairie Avenue about a quarter of a mile to a paved lot with food trucks. We saw this place – Prairie Street Eats – a few weeks ago when we were here and wanted to try it out. They had a wide variety of food served from more than half a dozen trucks and trailers. I went for a wet shredded beef burrito that was tasty and Donna opted for Indian cuisine – a chicken curry that she was craving.

I had my antennas set up and programmed a few repeaters for the area. There wasn’t much activity on the VHF and UHF frequencies, so I switched to HF 20-meter band. I made several contacts and had a couple of nice conversations. The first one was with a guy in Boyne City, Michigan. He was surprised to find I knew where Boyne City was. I knew about Boyne City from my good friend and former colleague, Keith Burk. Keith would take his fast boat to Boyne City for an event called Boyne Thunder. By fast boat, I mean an offshore racer type boat that could speed at more than 80 miles per hour on the water!

The other guy I talked to was a real nice fella in Texas. He had a ranch outside of Witchita Falls, northwest of Dallas. He’s retired and with all of the coronavirus stuff he said he hasn’t been traveling and only goes to Witchita Falls when necessary. Ham radio is his contact with the world.

We picked a hot time to return to Coeur d’Alene. The high yesterday was 82 degrees, but the forecast calls for 91 degrees today and upper 90s through the middle of next week.

Friends and Fun Times

The days have flown by here at the Coeur d’Alene Elk’s Lodge. We’ve been active and the days have gotten past me without writing a post. I’ve been studying for the ham radio exam and I’m confident I can pass the technician exam. I’m now thinking I should also take the General exam as I think I know enough to have a chance of earning that license. The General license will give me more frequencies to work with and possibly longer range. We’ll see.

On Thursday, Donna and I took a drive up to Priest River. We wanted to visit with our friends, Jim and Cindy Birditt. Jim has been my best friend for nearly 50 years. It was a nice drive in Midget-San. We avoided the traffic on US95 and took Meyer Road up to Rathdrum where we found ID41. This took us up through Spirit Lake where we then took the Spirit Lake Cutoff Road through the woods to the Pend Oreille River. A few miles west along the river brought us to the bridge at Wisconsin Street where we crossed into the town of Priest River.

After a little communication snafu, we met up with Jim at Mi Pueblo – a Mexican restaurant in town. We’ve eaten there before and knew they had excellent fare. We sat outside at a table and talked over lunch. We left Midget-San in the Ace Hardware parking lot and rode in Jim’s truck to his place a few miles east of town. Jim built a log home here back in the ’90s – it’s somewhat remote and I didn’t want to drive Midget-San on the unpaved roads. We sat on his deck with Cindy and talked and laughed for a couple of hours. The time really flies when it’s spent with good friends. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in conversation that I never took a photo.

On the way back to Couer d’Alene, we saw two moose alongside the Spirit Lake Cutoff Road. It was a beautiful drive.

On Friday, we had plans to meet up with Dick and Roxy Zarowny who drove over from Spokane, Washington. They’re friends and fellow RVers that we met at Viewpoint RV & Golf Resort in Mesa, Arizona. Roxy had been in touch with Donna and they invited us to join them for a boat ride on Lake Coeur d’Alene. They recently sold their boat, but they had reserved a rental pontoon boat to cruise around.

We drove down and parked in a public lot east of the Coeur d’Alene Resort. Parking was a bit of an adventure. You pay for parking at a kiosk that only accepts credit or debit cards – no cash. For some reason, it declined my card twice. Then I tried Donna’s card and that was declined as well. The people waiting behind us then tried to pay for their space and their card was also declined! We found another kiosk on the other side of the lot and my card worked fine.

The weather when we left the dock around 10am wasn’t as expected. The day dawned with quite an overcast and the clouds were still present. It was quite breezy out on the water, but it was good to be out there nonetheless. The Coeur d’Alene Resort is on the northern shore of the lake. We cruised south toward Mica Bay. There are a number of lake houses and cabins along the shore. Some are more like mansions or resorts! Dick knew a lot about many of the more outlandish homes – who owned or built them and so on. Some are difficult to reach by car and are mostly accessed via boat from town. We saw an interesting sight at one place. It was Ford pickup truck that wasn’t where it should be.

The truck was wrecked, but it didn’t appear to have rolled over. It looked to me like it came down the hillside nose first. The front end was heavily damaged as if it crashed into the rock at the water’s edge and the rear end swung around to its final resting position. It’ll be a tough job to get it out of there.

We were cruising right into the wind, so we crossed over the east side of the lake across from Twin Beaches and came around Arrow Point to get out of the wind. There was an interesting house at Arrow Point – it’s built on top of a large square rock! Dick said it’s owned by an architect.

By noon, the clouds had mostly dissipated. We stopped and drifted and had lunch on the water. I think we were near Moscow Bay. Roxy made some excellent Mediterranean wraps. She also had tortilla chips and homemade mango salsa. Donna brought some grapes and also made molasses cookies for dessert.

We came back along the north side of the lake where we saw people hiking on the Tubbs Hill trail or splashing in the water. We came past the Coeur d’Alene Golf Course. They have a floating green on one of the holes! To reach the green to putt or retrieve your ball, there’s a small boat ferry.

The floating green in the center of the photo

We came back to the dock at 2pm after a lovely day on the lake. It was very generous of Dick and Roxy to invite us out and treat us to a tour of the lake.

This morning, Donna and I hit the Kootenai County Farmers’ Market. It’s only about half a mile from the Elk’s Lodge on the southeast corner of US95 and Prairie Avenue. We’ve been to this market once before on our first visit here in 2014. It’s one of the nicest settings for a farmers’ market, being in the shade of tall pine trees. We found a few things there although we didn’t go with an intention of buying anything.

I bought locally made jalapeno-chedder sausage. They’re pre-cooked so you can just slice them for a snack or grill them if you wish. Donna found really good looking fresh green beans. We also bought some labneh – we haven’t had any since the last time we were at this market. Labneh is sort of a cheese made by straining Greek yogurt.

On the way back from the lake yesterday, we stopped and checked out the dump station at the fairgrounds. I wanted to see if I could get in and out with the trailer or if I would have to dump first, then come back and pick up the trailer. It’s plenty roomy so no worries about the trailer. We’ll have to dump our tanks before we hit the road tomorrow. We’ll stop in Winthrop, Washington for the night, then continue on to Mount Vernon where we’re booked for two weeks. Time to visit the grandkids!

The weather has been fine with daily highs around 80-85 degrees dropping into the 50s overnight. Yesterday was the only cloudy day all week. The long range forecast for western Washington looks favorable, so hopefully, we’ll continue to enjoy sunshine and warm temperatures.

One Night in Montana

Sunday was our last full day in Salmon, Idaho. When I wrote my last post Sunday morning, I mentioned I had a pork Boston butt in the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker-grill. I wouldn’t set up the Traeger and then have to re-pack it the day before we traveled normally, but I wanted to smoke the pork and not have to freeze it.

I set up the grill at 8am and had the pork on it 8:20am. I wrote about temperature settings on the smoker/grill in this post. The thing is, traveling around with different climates, full sun versus shade and varying wind conditions makes getting the temperature right difficult at times. For pulled pork I wanted to smoke it low and slow. I wanted to keep the pit temperature around 210 degrees. I started out with the 225-degree setting on the Traeger, but it kept over-shooting and getting too hot.

I tried P-settings that would run at a lower duty cycle to allow the temperature to cool. The problem with that was, with the duty cycle too low, the temperature would drop below the 225-degree setting. Once that happened, the controller would turn on continuous pellet feed until the temperature reached or exceeded 225 degrees. This resulted in too many pellets in the fire box and and the temperature sensor for the controller would shoot up to 260 degrees or more. This made the pit temperature hover around 240 degrees. That was hotter than I wanted it to be.

So, I tried something different. I set the controller to 180 degrees, then set the P setting at 0. This setting will have the auger feed pellets for 15 seconds, then shut off for 45 seconds as long as the temperature stays above 180 degrees. This worked great. The temperature sensor for the controller read 220 to 240 degrees while the pit temperature ran at 210 to 220 degrees. Perfect!

It was a good thing that I put the pork on early. I thought it would take about seven hours to cook the 3.5-lb. Boston butt to reach an internal temperature of about 200 degrees. It turned out I need more than eight and a half hours! Then I wrapped it in a double layer of foil, put that into a thick bath towel and stuffed it into a small cooler. I left it in there for an hour. When I unwrapped it, it was still too hot to touch. The meat was tender and pulled apart easily and it was juicy – not at all dry. Excellent!

Donna made garlic smashed potatoes and sauteed a medley of corn, zucchini, red onion and jalapeno pepper for sides. We had Stubbs hickory-bourbon barbeque sauce on the side.

After dinner, I packed the Traeger and loaded the Midget in the trailer. Clouds had moved in and the sun on the mountains across the valley made a lovely contrast of light and shadow. The picture below doesn’t do it justice.

Later, as the sun was setting, the clouds reflected nice colors.

Monday morning we left the Elk’s lodge and hit the road around 10:30am. We had overslept a bit and got a little later start than I wanted, but it was no big deal. Our route took us north on US93. We had to climb to Lost Trail Pass at the Montana border, right next to the Lost Trail ski area. This was a steep climb with several switchbacks, but the road was good and the lanes were wide. The pass is over 7,000 feet above sea level and quickly drops back down to about 5,000 feet. From there, it was a gradual descent into the Bitterroot Valley around 4,000 feet above sea level.

We drove alongside the Bitterroot River through several very small towns and the larger town of Hamilton. The last time I came through Hamilton was nearly 30 years ago and I could hardly believe how much it has grown. We made a stop at the Pilot Travel Center in Lolo and that turned out to be a bit of an ordeal.

It was okay for Donna as she was on a phone interview with a freelance writer and the break worked out for her. What happened was, we entered the travel center to find the pumps open and only a few trucks in the lot. I pulled up to a pump and got out. I couldn’t find a card reader to swipe my Pilot/Flying J RV Plus card. I saw a guy by a pump a couple of stalls to our left. I asked him about using a card at the pump. He said only the first two lanes had card readers. Okay, I figured I would pull through, circle around and go into the second lane, next to the stall he was standing in.

When I got out to start the pump, the guy told me I would have to wait a few minutes as he was reprogramming the pumps. Ten minutes later, he told me to go ahead. I swiped the RV Plus card and got an error message. I swiped it again and it said “See cashier.” I told the guy what was happening. He said I should wait a couple more minutes while he re-booted the master pump. Five minutes later, he said try again. I got the same result. He tried his Visa card and it worked. He canceled his card transaction and told me my card was the problem and to see the cashier.

I went inside (with the required face mask) and the cashier turned on the pump. He told me to come back after I filled up and he would run my card. I put 50 gallons of the lowest priced diesel fuel we’ve seen since we hit the road in 2013. It was $1.98/gallon! When I went back to the cashier, I swiped my card at the counter and it worked, no problem. It turned out the card readers at the pump were Exxon Corporation card readers and they would only accept MasterCard, Visa or Exxon cards. Even though I was at a Pilot Travel Center, I couldn’t use the Pilot/Flying J card at the pump, but it was okay in the travel center. It turned out to be a 30-minute fuel stop.

We continued on US93 which I expected to bypass Missoula. Missoula has so much sprawl these days that the last few miles before US93 hits I-90 was totally built up with businesses, traffic and stop lights every quarter of a mile! We took I-90 west and expected to stop for the day at St. Regis where Donna found a dry camping spot. When we got there we saw the boondocking spot was next to the interstate in a busy area. It had a few tractor-trailer rigs in it and the marked parking stalls were closely spaced and too narrow for slide-outs.

We decided to move on. We knew we could stay at a tourist attraction called 50,000 Silver Coins at exit 16 – only another 17 miles down the road. We had stayed overnight there before – they advertise a free RV “Park.” It’s not really a park, just some dirt sites in the trees behind their restaurant-casino. When we stayed there a few years ago, they had a couple of sites with 30-amp power, but I’m not sure if that’s still true.

We found a nice pull-through spot and set up to boondock for the night.

Our boondocking spot behind 50,000 Silver Coins

It was 78 degrees out, but felt cooler in the shade. Donna walked to a historic nursery next door. It was founded in 1908, but was wiped out by a wild fire that swept through the area in 1910. It was rebuilt in 1912 and operated until 1969. It’s called Savenac Historic Tree Nursery and it’s owned by the USDA Forest Service. She took a few photos.

We had a hearty take-out breakfast from the restaurant this morning and made a relatively early start. We were only 16 miles from the Idaho border and when we crossed it, we gained an hour as we are now in Pacific Daylight Time Zone. We had to climb two passes – Lookout Pass and Fourth of July Pass – but these were easy with no switchbacks!

Coming down the west side of Fourth of July Pass brought us to Lake Couer D’Alene. I-90 follows the Couer D’Alene River westward from Wallace, Idaho to Couer D’Alene. We found the Couer D’Alene Elk’s Lodge – it’s been three years since we were last here. We checked in, unloaded Midget-San and dropped the trailer before setting up. This is the first time we’ve dropped the trailer since we left Mesa, Arizona in April.

We have 50-amp electric service and fresh water, but no sewer here. We’ll have to watch our waste water. We plan to stay here until Sunday – I paid for five nights at $20/night. We’re at an elevation of about 2,300 feet above sea level.

The weather looks delightful We can expect highs of 80-85 degrees and overnight lows of 55 degrees with no rain in the forecast. The relative humidity is 25-35%.

First Time in Salmon

After deciding against traveling on a windy day with strong gusts, we spent Tuesday mostly kicking back. We didn’t go anywhere, just hung out. Our decision to stay put was a good one. The gusts were so strong at times that the coach and trailer were rocking. I can handle that when we’re stationary, but rocking and rolling down the road is not a good idea.

Wednesday’s forecast called for 10-15 mph winds. It was 15 mph for sure, but it was from the south-southwest. This gave us mostly a tailwind component which makes for easy driving. We hit the road around 10:15 and left Pocatello on I-15 north.

We had only traveled about 270 miles since I last filled our fuel tank, but looking ahead, I knew we might not have a good opportunity for fuel until we reached Missoula next week. I also didn’t know if we would be boondocking – if the Elks Lodge RV lot was full, we had a plan “B” for some BLM boondocking. BLM is Bureau of Land Management – they administer much public land, especially in the west. Many BLM areas allow dry camping for up to 14 days in a 30-day period. We stopped at the Blackfoot exit at US26 and topped up the tank, then got back on I-15.

We went west at the junction of ID33. There was very little traffic – even on I-15 once we were north of Idaho Falls. On ID33, then on ID28 we didn’t see many vehicles on the road. We passed through several small towns and crossed large ranches. We saw deer and antelope as we headed north on ID28. The road surface was good but it’s a fairly narrow two-lane highway and you have to stay alert. Donna snapped a few photos from the passenger seat that give a feel of what the country was like. We’ve never traveled in this part of Idaho before.

The Continental Divide and Montana to the east

I knew we were gradually climbing as we went along. The only real indication was the gauge showing turbo boost. We were running at 19 to 23 psi of boost, which means there was a pretty good load on the engine to maintain our speed of 60mph – not maximum load, but not just loafing along either. Eventually we hit the Gilmore Summit at 7,169 feet above sea level. From there, it was a very slight downgrade over the next 65 miles all the way to Salmon.

We found the Elks Lodge off of US93 on the north side of Salmon and they had an open site for us. We have a large pull-through and didn’t have to drop the trailer. We were set up and relaxing by 3:30pm. We’re now at an elevation of about 4,000 feet above sea level. Looking out our windshield, we see the Continental Divide.

Our windshield view at the Salmon Elks Lodge

The Continental Divide is a hydrological divide that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific from those that drain into the Atlantic – including the Gulf of Mexico and Carribean Sea.

After dinner, Donna took a walk down to the Salmon River. There’s a recreational area right across the highway from us called the Lemhi Hole Fishing Access. That’s where she ended up on her walk.

We paid for five nights here. We want to relax, do a little exploring and enjoy the area before we move on again. The weather is agreeable – not as dry as we’ve been experiencing. The temperature might reach the low 80s this afternoon and the humidity is currently at 35%. Saturday has the warmest forecast with 90 degrees possible, but otherwise it should remain in the low 80s with cool overnight temperatures in the upper 40s to low 50s.

Family Matters

I closed my last post saying we had eight nights to fill before we could check in at Mission Bay RV Park in San Diego and needed a plan. What we came up with may not have been the most exciting plan, but it was practical. We left Bishop and headed south on US395 for about 140 miles to Ridgecrest, California.

The Elks Lodge in Ridgecrest has about a dozen sites with full hook-ups – five are 50amp service. Ridgecrest isn’t the most glamorous destination, but at $20/night it would work for the first four nights we needed to fill.

Ridgecrest has been in the news recently due to earthquakes centered near the town. In July, quakes with magnitudes of 6.4, 5.4 and 7.1 happened. In the last week, several smaller quakes occurred including a a magnitude 3.2 on Saturday morning, which was recorded by geologists, but we didn’t even notice it.

Ridgecrest’s other claim to fame is the China Lake Naval Station nearby. China Lake is mainly a research and evaluation facility for the US Navy – and it’s also the largest landholding in the navy’s inventory.

When we arrived, there were a few other RVs there, but after two days, we had the place to ourselves. We didn’t do anything exciting while we were there. Donna caught up on a couple of assignments while we took advantage of the 50-amp service to keep the air conditioners running during the day. The high temperature hovered around 90 each day, but quickly cooled off after sundown to overnight lows in the upper 50s. We also had excellent satellite reception and I recorded Formula One and Moto-GP races.

We dropped the trailer across from our site by the lodge

The Ridgecrest Elks Lodge has an RV club and they’ve done a great job with the RV sites, but the lodge doesn’t seem to be very active. They do have Bingo on Thursday nights and Donna went over to play. On Friday evening I went in for a cold one around 5pm and found only two people there. The bartender told me Fridays are usually quiet as so many people get out of town for the weekend. The lodge is closed Saturday and Sunday!

By the time I had the Midget secured in the trailer and hooked up, it was 10:30am when we pulled out of Ridgecrest on Monday morning. We followed US395 south to I-15 and went over Cajon Summit. Cajon Summit is followed by six miles of steep downgrade dropping into San Bernadino. The traffic was harrowing on this stretch as expected. Cars dart from lane to lane trying to take advantage of any opening without much regard for tractor-trailer and big-rig RVs.

We took I-215 down through Riverside and continued our trek southward. We made a stop at Ethanac Road in Menifee where I knew there was a travel center. Finding truck stops in southern California isn’t as easy as some places. I filled our tank with diesel #2 at $3.75/gallon. Not bad considering California fuel prices – we’ve seen much higher prices.

My step-dad, Ken, lives nearby but we didn’t see him. There isn’t anyplace nearby to legally park an RV. We would have to go several miles, then unload the Midget for a visit and load back up to get on the road. I really wanted to get past the afternoon rush through Temecula and get off the road. Our destination was another four-night stay at an Elks Lodge – in Oceanside this time. We’ve wanted to stay there for a while but weren’t able to get a reservation in the past. This time we got lucky and snagged a site for four nights – only a 30-amp service this time. The 30-amp service isn’t a big deal since we have cooler breezes here coming off the Pacific Ocean and don’t need to run air conditioners.

Tuesday morning Donna and I took a ride down the Coast Highway to Saint Michaels By-The-Sea just after crossing into Carlsbad. We met Debbie Bednarski – a friend from my high school days – there and played pickleball. They have two outdoor courts and 12-15 people showed up to play. It was great to see Debbie again and also get back on the pickleball courts.

While we were there, I received a phone call from the my step-dad, Ken’s neighbor, Helen. She told me Ken had just been taken away in an ambulance for transport to Loma Linda Hospital in Murrieta. I knew he was complaining about shortness of breath and it seems like it’s gotten bad enough that he needed attention.

This created a little tension for me – I had to figure out how to handle the situation. Donna’s dad had taken a fall a few weeks ago and broke his hip. He had successful surgery but now needs rehabilitation. He spent two weeks in a facility before Donna’s sisters decided to take over. Linda is a nurse and Sheila is a physical therapist. Sheila flew from San Diego to Vermont to get him going on rehab.

Meanwhile, Sheila’s 15 year-old son, Connor, was invited to play with a band made up of local middle and high schoolers opening up the Padres MLB game with the national anthem at Petco Park on Tuesday night. I needed to drop Donna off at Sheila’s place in La Jolla so she could use Sheila’s car to drive Connor to the ballgame and back.

I called the hospital and talked to an ER nurse. She told me they were taking Ken to X-ray, he was coherent, his vitals were good and I should wait and check back later. So I carried on and drove Donna to La Jolla. I called the hospital again and the nurse told me nothing had really changed and she advised me to sit tight and wait until the doctor came up with something. She didn’t seem overly concerned at this point. I notified my sister and brother and also my daughters of the situation. They admitted Ken to the hospital for more tests and observation.

Yesterday I drove the Midget up to Murrieta. It’s a blast up the interstate most of the way – not a fun drive in a small British sports car. At the hospital, I found Ken’s room and he seemed much better. They had discovered a large amount of fluid in one lung and drained 1.5 liters from it! With the liquid removed, he could breathe much better.

I’m concerned though. The thing is, his heart rate, blood pressure and temperature were all fine. He just couldn’t breathe. To me, I’m thinking this isn’t pneumonia or some kind of infection – he would’ve been ill. So why was there fluid in his lung? The only thing I can come up with is congestive heart failure or cancer. He’s 88 years old, so I’m hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

Meanwhile, Donna has plans to fly to Varmont next week. She’ll spend a day with Sheila learning what needs to be done to assist with her dad’s physical therapy. Sheila will return home while Donna stays there for a week or more. Family matters matter. I’ll be at Mission Bay RV Resort – we check in tomorrow.

A rain shower passed through here this morning. We skipped pickleball, but drove down to the Oceanside Farmers’ Market near the pier. There were some unique vendors and we bought more than usual.

Oceanside Farmers Market – and the back of Donna’s head

It’s cloudy and cool – the high might reach 70 degrees. We expect pleasant weather at Mission Bay – daytime highs in the low 70s and overnight lows in the 60s. Hard to beat that.

Double Trouble

Florence has a farmers’ market at the Veterans Memorial Park on Bay Street Tuesday afternoons. Donna and I drove to town around 3pm. Our first stop was at the post office where we had our mail forwarded to General Delivery. Donna retrieved our packet of mail sent there from Your Best Address in South Dakota. Then we proceeded to the farmers’ market.

We always enjoy local farmers’ markets and this one was small, but it was the real deal. Not a craft show or anything like that, but fresh produce, cheese and meats from local farms. On the way back we did a drive-through at the Fred Meyer fuel pumps. Getting diesel fuel in a big rig can be a challenge on the Oregon Coast. You don’t find any truck stops and most of the gas stations are small and too tight to maneuver our rig through. The location of the diesel pump at Fred Meyer wasn’t ideal, but it was probably our best option. We planned to get fuel on our way out of Florence on Thursday.

I loaded the Midget into the trailer when we returned. Rain was forecast and I didn’t want to leave it out and have to load it later when the meadow was likely to be muddy. The rain came on Wednesday morning as predicted. It rained off and on all day, so we had an uneventful day. Donna put the finishing touches on a post for her Unclutter blog.

On Thursday morning, Donna phoned Salmon Harbor Marina in Winchester Bay to see if they had any open sites. She was told five sites were available. We finished packing up and made the winding drive to the dump station. We pulled out of the Elk’s RV park around 10:15am.

The diesel pump at Fred Meyer had a couple of motorcycles in front of it, behind a gas powered motorhome. They cleared out just as we were pulling in. The diesel pump is located at the end of an island closest to the entry lane. This meant our trailer partially blocked the entry lane. We needed the fuel though. Our Onan 7.5kW Quiet Diesel generator is fueled by the same fuel tank that supplies our engine. The fuel pick-up for the generator is located about a quarter of the way up from the bottom of the tank. This is done by design – the thinking is, if we were boondocked in a remote location, the generator would stop running when we still had a quarter of a tank of fuel, allowing us to get on the road. Running the fuel tank dry with the generator in a remote area wouldn’t be good.

We took 73 gallons of fuel, so we were near the quarter tank level. The Fred Meyer pumps are standard nozzles – I’ve become jaded by the high-volume trucker nozzles at Pilot/Flying J where I can pump 50 gallons in five minutes or less. Getting 73 gallons at Fred Meyer took about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, a motorhome pulled into the Fred Meyer entrance and stopped at the fuel station entry, waiting for us to move. This led to another motorhome stopping behind him. A third motorhome showed up and stopped in the highway lane. By the time I was finished filling up, cars and RVs were backed up down the highway. Sorry about that.

The time it took at the dump station and Fred Meyer had us running a bit later than we hoped. We headed south on US101 where it’s only a 30-mile run to Winchester Bay. However, it’s a relatively slow run with hills and turns marked with 35-40 mph advisories. On the way, Donna called the marina again and asked about site availability. Now there were only three of the first-come, first-served sites open. The gal on the phone – who shall remain nameless – did us a huge favor by putting a cone in site E14, blocking anyone from taking the site. She told us to proceed to that site and set up, then come by the office to pay.

When we pulled into the marina, the camp host stopped us in his golf cart. He said the campground was full. I told him we were going to site E14 – it had a cone in it. I mentioned the name of the gal that blocked it for us, then realized I may have gotten her in trouble. He asked if it was done in the last 20 minutes or so and I said yes. He directed us in.

The Salmon Harbor Marina RV Park is really just a paved parking lot with marked sites, surrounded on the three sides by the marina on Winchester Bay. All of the sites are dry camping only, no hook-ups. Across the street, an RV park called Windy Cove is run by the county and it has full hook-ups. There’s also a privately run RV park called Winchester Bay RV Resort with full hook-ups on the west side of the marina. Lots of RV spaces, but if you don’t reserve well in advance, the first-come, first served dry camping is the only option. We’re still trying to figure out why the campground has “full” and “no vacancy” signs out when we can see a few open sites that are blocked by cones. Maybe we aren’t the only ones that had a site held for us.

Salmon Harbor Marina – Winchester Bay RV Resort on the far bank

The sites are very wide. We unloaded the Midget and dropped the trailer on the left side of the site, then I looped around and parked the coach on the right side. The site is surprisingly level although there’s a dip running across the center of it. Our wheels are equidistant from the dip and left us level!

We headed out in Midget-San to get provisions back in Reedsport at McKay’s Market. We’ll stock up now and also when we leave on Sunday as we expect to be away from easy shopping for at least a week. Reedsport is about five miles from the marina.

As we headed to Reedsport on US101, I noticed the water temperature gauge read unusually high. I thought the slow drive out of the marina plus a long wait at an intersection had raised the coolant temperature. But now we were cruising at 60mph and it should have dropped back to the normal range of around 7 o’clock on the gauge. Instead, it kept moving toward the hot danger zone. I pulled off on the shoulder and with the engine idling listened for the electric cooling fan. I didn’t hear it. I shut off the motor.

I got out and popped the hood – or bonnet as the British car maker calls it on the MG. Yikes! A coolant hose had loosened up and disconnected from the water pump. We were pumping coolant through the radiator and out onto the ground!

I was able to reconnect the hose and tighten the clamp with a bottle opener on my keychain. I told Donna we had to wait for the motor to cool. I retrieved two bottles of water from the trunk – er, boot – of Midget-San and waited. After a while, I removed the radiator cap and slowly added a bottle of water. I opened the second bottle and it only took half of that bottle to fill it. I squeezed the upper coolant hose a few times to work any air pockets out and topped it up. We were good to go.

I told Donna this is why I always scan my gauges periodically. In the motorhome, situational awareness is important when you’re piloting a rig 65 feet long weighing 18 tons. In Midget-San, this awareness is also paramount – we drive it like it’s a motorcycle, always defensively and assuming we’re not seen by other distracted drivers.

Before getting groceries, we stopped for lunch at Ocean Garden, a Cantonese Chinese restaurant. Wow, was it ever good. We both ordered spicy dishes off the luncheon special menu which included soup, fried rice, and crab rangoons. Service was great, too, and portions were very generous.

Back at the coach, I topped up Midget-San’s coolant reservoir with coolant and checked all of the hose clamps. After going for an exploratory walk, Donna was ready to make beef ragu for dinner, so she fired up the generator. It ran normally for about a minute, then suddenly shut off. I tried to restart it, but it cranked without starting. Oh no! We can’t dry camp for three nights without recharging the batteries with the generator. The diagnostic blink code on the switch flashed three times. This is the worst diagnostic code. One flash means “High Temp,” two flashes means “Low Oil Pressure” and three flashes means “Service Required.” So, basically three flashes only tells you it’s not high temperature or low oil pressure – it’s something else.

I opened the generator slide and checked it for leaks. Then I checked all of the electrical connections at the generator and battery bank. I turned off the circuit breaker at the generator to remove any electrical load and tried restarting it. It started and ran for a few seconds before it sputtered and died. I could hear the fuel pump run before it started, so I didn’t think that was the problem, although it acted like it was starved for fuel. I wondered if we had a plugged fuel filter.

I pushed the start switch a couple of times to run the fuel pump, then started it again. It started and ran. It faltered a couple of times, but regained a smooth idle speed. After a minute, I flipped the breaker to the on position and the rpms increased and it ran fine. I ran it for an hour without any problems. This morning, I’ve had it running for two hours without an issue.

After thinking it over, I have a theory. Remember how the fuel pick-up is at a quarter tank level. When we filled up we were at about a quarter tank. I think air got into the generator fuel line before I filled the tank. When the air bubbles reached the injection pump, it “ran out of fuel” and shut off. Once the air bubbles bled off, it’s fine.

The forecast here is for sunny days and high temperatures around 70 degrees. Yesterday was windy and it’s supposed to get gusty again this afternoon. The weekend should have calmer breezes though. Sunday we’ll head out east to the Cascade Mountains. We have reservations at Crescent Junction RV Park which is either in the Umpqua National Forest or the Deschutes National Forest – I’m not sure where the boundaries lie.

Oregon Dunes

After I wrote my previous post on Sunday, Donna and I went out to do some more exploring. We went south through town and crossed the Siuslaw River. The South Jetty area is part of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area in the Siuslaw National Forest. It’s a day-use fee area – you’re allowed to enter and drive through, but you need a $5 pass to park.

The paved road is about 5.5 miles long before it becomes a dirt road. In one section, where an off-road vehicle trail is by the road, there are tall, sharp speed bumps. They’re ridiculous actually. I had to use extreme care to get Midget-San over them without scraping the floor pan. I could see where they had used an asphalt grinder to lower and attempt to smooth the aggressive bumps.

South Jetty is the northernmost section of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. There are three other locations with this designation within the Siuslaw National Forest – Siltcoos, along the Siltcoos River and beach area, Oregon Dunes Overlook and Tahkanitch.

We drove to the end of the pavement and turned around. We saw a few trails going up the razorback dunes that separate the road from the beach and the Pacific Ocean. We stopped at one and climbed the trail. It was much harder than it looked. The trail was steep. The sand was soft and I sank nearly to my ankles at times. It was also much taller than it looked. I started out climbing the trail too fast and my heart rate immediately elevated. I had to slow down, catch my breath and plod up the trail.

On the beach side of the dune, the face stair-stepped down to the beach. It was much taller and steeper than it appears in the photo.

View from the dune looking back across the Siuslaw River and more sand dunes

Next we stopped at a parking area where people trailered in their off-road vehicles. There was a huge dune next to the parking area and dune buggies, ATVs and motorcycles were climbing up and down it.

It was a lot like the Imperial Dunes area in the California desert west of Yuma – but the sand is finer.

We headed back across the bridge to town. Donna wanted to stop at the Boardwalk Market again and see if there was anything new or interesting there.

The boardwalk in Florence is really a boardwalk – unlike San Diego

While Donna was perusing the market, I wandered away to check out the boats docked at the marina. There was a mix of boats – some fishing vessels, some pleasure craft and a few that looked like live-aboards.

During the day, access to the docks is open. This allows the public to access the fish market on the dock. At night, a key code is needed. I went down and checked out Novelli’s Crab and Seafood market. They had a large pen with live Dungeness crabs. They were mostly sold out of fish.

It doesn’t get any fresher than this – Novelli’s Crab and Seafood

The owners of Novelli’s are commercial fishermen. The fish is literally taken from the boat right at the market.

When Donna finished browsing the market, it was time for a late lunch. We walked a couple of blocks down Bay Street. As we passed our car parked on the side of Bay Street, we saw a girl posing by Midget-San while her friend snapped a photo.

We thought about getting lunch at ICM – a restaurant on the water with outdoor seating on a deck over the river – but their menu didn’t appeal to Donna. We walked to the Beachcomber Pub. I mentioned in my last post that this establishment was opened in the 1960s by the father of our friend, Scott Hicks.

Donna had a salad with shrimp and a bowl of chowder while I went for the fish tacos. The fish taco portions were large and very filling. I paired the fish with an amber ale while Donna enjoyed a chocolate porter. The food was good, but I think the fish and chowder at the South Beach Market in Newport was the best.

On our way out of town, we made a detour to check out the Three Rivers Casino. It’s a fall-back plan if we need to find a place to dry camp for a few nights before we leave. The parking situation there is good with large, marked RV stalls. They allow one night free parking, then you need to earn 50 points per day in the casino to stay for additional nights. I don’t know what earning 50 points entails, we might have to find out.

I needed to get back to our site. I had to set up the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker grill. I planned to make the babyback ribs I bought at Fred Meyer. I had prepped them the night before – the ribs were well-trimmed already, so I only had to remove the membrane from the bone side and season them with my Memphis-style dry rub. By 6pm, we had yummy babyback ribs for dinner.

Yesterday was a laid back day. I mostly read while Donna did some work on her laptop. I made one trip to the grocery store and gassed up the Midget, otherwise I was a homebody. Donna has been diligent at practicing her clarinet daily. She’s hoping to get good enough to join the orchestra at Viewpoint Golf & RV Resort when we move to Mesa, Arizona at the end of the year.

Some of the trees around here have interesting shapes. The prevailing wind comes from the west, off the ocean. It shapes some of the trees into weird and unusual forms.

The weather has been consistent – warm and windy days with highs around 70 degrees – cooling to the mid-50s at night. Today the wind is supposed to be calm and rain is coming tomorrow. We’re hoping to get a boondocking site at Winchester Bay’s Salmon Harbor Marina on Thursday. We won’t know if one is available until Thursday morning. We hope to spend a few days there and then leave the coast and move east to the mountains.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Florence, Oregon

We settled in to our site at the Florence Elk’s RV park Thursday afternoon. I got Midget-San out of the trailer and covered it, then set up the Weber Q grill. Donna took a walk to reconnoiter the area and found a trail to Mercer Lake.

We have 50amp electrical service and fresh water at this site, but no sewer, so we’re being careful about the amount of gray water we put down the drain.

Donna manned the grill and cooked chicken thighs for dinner. She served it with sweet potato mash and roasted Brussel sprouts.

After dinner, I sat outside and puffed a cigar and caught a nice sunset through the trees.

Sunset through the trees on a clear night

I don’t take photos of breakfast plates usually, but Friday morning, Donna outdid herself. She cooked up a zucchini frittata with cherry tomatoes and served it with sausage patties and sliced avocado. A great start to the day.

After lunch, we drove south a couple of miles on US101 and turned off at Heceta Beach Road. We wandered west to a beach access, but didn’t stop there. We continued south on Rhododendron Drive through a beautiful neighborhood until we found public parking and beach access at the north jetty. This jetty marks the mouth of the Siuslaw (SIGH-you-slaw) River.

The Siuslaw River originates in the coastal mountain range east of Florence and passes south of town before it turns north and finally bends back west where it meets the Pacific Ocean.

Siuslaw River meets the Pacific – south jetty on the left, north jetty on the right

Looking upriver from North Jetty Park, the Siuslaw River bends south to Florence

The beaches in the area have fine, powdery sand held together in places with clumps of American Beach grass. The wind shapes dunes in the sand – some of them are quite large. We heard about sand boarding the dunes – it’s like snowboarding, but on sand dunes.

Sandy trail bordered by beach grass at the north jetty

The backside of some dunes – the windward side faces the ocean and has less beach grass

The population of Florence is about 10,000, but the town sprawls and feels larger. We drove to the Old Town district of Florence and cruised Bay Street, right on the water front. We parked at the public lot near the Boardwalk Market and got out to walk the market. The market is usually open on Saturdays and Sundays, but we were told that some stalls are open on Fridays in August. There’s also a marina on the river here and some nice restaurants. I’ll have to stop in the Beachcomber Pub next time – this pub was established in the 1960s by the father of our friend, Scott Hicks. Donna bought some yellow nectarines and cherry tomatoes sourced from northern California. The fruit was fresh and tasty.

Before we headed back, we made a stop at Fred Meyer – a northwest grocery store that also carries some household goods and clothing. Donna wanted to restock the pantry and we found some good deals. We bought T-bone steaks and I found a nice looking rack of babyback ribs for only $1.77/lb – deal! We had the steaks with baked potato and asparagus Friday evening.

On Friday afternoon, a guy with a travel trailer pulled into the meadow. He was looking at the site next to us and wanted to move the picnic table. I went out to help him. We discussed the best way to get his trailer where he wanted it. He told me wasn’t too good at reversing his trailer. I directed him into the site. He was right, he wasn’t too good at backing the trailer in. I instructed him by telling him which way to turn the steering wheel. The mistake he kept making – along with turning the wheel in the wrong direction – was turning the steering wheel too quickly. He would go from full lock one direction and then when I said to start straightening out, he would go to full lock in the other direction. After a few false attempts, we got him positioned.

Saturday we drove back north on US101 to sightsee. We went up around 15 miles to Ten Mile Creek and parked in a small lot at Stonefield Beach. There’s a short, sandy trail there to beach. The beach was nearly empty. One girl hiked in ahead of us with a beach chair and I could see a few people nearly a quarter of mile up the beach. It seems strange to me – I’m used to seeing crowds on the beach in southern California.

We made a few stops on the way back south. The first stop was at a scenic turnout just north of Sea Lion Caves. Looking to the north, the view included a small beach area bordered by cliffs at Devil’s Elbow and in the distance was Heceta Head with a lighthouse on the point.

Heceta Head lighthouse on the point on the left, Devil’s Elbow and beach

At the turnout, a young guy parked his old car by us. It was a 1952 Chevrolet DeLuxe painted pearl white. The pearlescent finish reminded me of the paint found on some Audi’s in the early ’90s. The guy said he liked old cars and Donna remarked to me that with his clothing and hair style, he looked like he just came from the ’50s.

Our next stop was at Sea Lion Caves. There’s a gift shop there and also you can buy tickets to ride an elevator down to the cave – billed as America’s largest sea cave. Tickets are $14 for an adult, $13 for seniors. Because the sea lions are out to sea, they were discounting tickets and offering a free return ticket for any time in the next 12 months. We opted not to go down.

View of beaches to the south of Sea Lion Caves

On Saturday evening, Donna made shrimp with peppers, tomatoes, basil and feta cheese. I had my dish over whole wheat spaghetti and Donna served hers over spaghetti squash.

The shrimp was another deal at Fred Meyer. Donna bought extra large wild Argentine red shrimp, peeled and de-veined for $9.99/lb. Have you noticed our new bowls? They were a gift from a member of the Buy Nothing group in Arlington – a set of 4 porcelain bowls still in the box.

The weather here has been more agreeable than Newport. It’s drier with warm, clear afternoons in the low 70s. The nights are cooler, dropping into the mid-50s. The afternoons have been windy though. Winds are supposed to continue with gusts up to 24mph today, then diminish tomorrow.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Yellow Submarine

Most of the fisherman in our section of the Newport Marina RV Park left for a few days this week. They went home in their trucks but left their fifth-wheel trailers, gear and boats here. Although they pay for six months of RV site and dockage, I guess they have to go home and take care of things from time to time. They’re a very friendly group of guys with a great sense of humor as evidenced by the trailer one of them has set up to vacuum seal and freeze fish filets.

I expect we’ll see the guys this afternoon. Donna made zucchini nut muffins for them yesterday morning.

Tuesday we drove a short distance to the Hatfield Marine Science Center. It’s a research center operated by Oregon State University and various fish and wildlife agencies. It’s an interactive museum of sorts with most of the interactive displays designed to be educational for children. Admittance is free – $5 donation suggested – and it was a worthwhile visit.

A yellow submarine is on display in front of the center. It’s a 4,000-pound, two-man submarine that can dive up to 350 feet and stay submerged for up to four hours. This electric-powered sub was used in 1985 to search for the steamship SS Governor which sunk near Port Townsend, Washington in 1921. It was able to locate it and provide video footage.

We left the Hatfield Marine Science Center and took a drive down Ferry Slip Road to the Wolf Tree Brewery Taproom. We looked for it once before and missed it. Donna found it on one of her walks and I needed to wet my whistle. It’s in a new building off the beaten path a bit at Wilder Corner. They had a nice amber ale that I enjoyed.

We took a side trip through Aquarium Village to have a look around and found it to be sleepy with a few small businesses and a cafe. I thought there would be more to it.

Wednesday morning we woke up to wet surroundings. It wasn’t really raining, but a heavy mist was in the air and moisture collected on the coach, the covered Midget and on the ground. By late morning, it had burned off and the sun came out, drying everything. We walked about three quarters of a mile south to the South Beach Fish Market right on the west side of US101. This is a small market and cafe – it was highly recommended for fresh seafood and great chowder by the guys in the RV park.

We’ve noticed the place looked busy every time we passed by. Tuesday was no exception. We got there a little past noon and there was a line waiting to get to the counter inside to order food.

The line to the counter runs all the way out the door

There was a cook shack outside where a guy was boiling crabs. Inside, behind the fresh fish case, they take orders at the counter. A guy was working a fryer non-stop trying to keep up with the volume of orders. We stood in line for about 15 minutes. I ordered the fish and chips – made with the catch of the day – ling cod – and a cup of chowder. Donna had the fish sandwich, also made with the catch of the day. All of the fish was very fresh.

We waited another 15 or 20 minutes before our order came up. They had tables inside as well as several outdoor picnic tables. We decided to dine al fresco at one of the roadside tables. The fish and the chowder were both excellent – far better than what we had in Depoe Bay. The ling cod was obviously fresh and lightly battered. Donna discarded the bread from her sandwich and had a tasty fish filet. It was worth the wait.

Last night we had another seafood dish. Our neighbor, Les, gave us filets of smoked salmon and smoked steelhead – a little over half a pound of each. Donna made a pasta salad with garbanzo bean rotini and grilled peppers, onions and zucchini, then added chunks of the smoked fish along with capers and a ginger white balsamic vinegar. Tasty!

Pasta salad with smoked salmon and steelhead

All of the rich seafood I’ve been eating is starting to get to me. I feel a little bloated and need to watch what I eat in the new few days.

Today looks like another partly cloudy day with the temperature reaching the upper 60s. We need to run a couple of errands and buy some groceries this afternoon. I’ll pack the grill and chairs and prep for travel. I’m hoping it’s not too misty tomorrow morning. I’ll hook up the trailer, load the Midget and we’ll continue south on US101. Tomorrow’s destination is another small coastal Oregon town – Florence – about 50 miles from here. We have a reservation at the Elk’s campground north of town – 50 amp service and fresh water but no sewer hook-up.

UPDATE – Wow, did I ever screw up. Right after I saved the draft of the post above, a few minutes before 11am, the camp host stopped by and asked Donna what time we were pulling out. Wait, what? Donna said we would be out Friday morning. He said his list shows us leaving today. I checked my receipt and calendar – sure enough, we were due to leave today, Thursday. Check out time is noon.

I called the office to see if we could extend a day – no go. The site was already booked. This is the first time I’d ever made a mistake on a check-out date. We quickly packed up and pulled out of the site at 11:55am. It took another 20 minutes to load and secure the Midget and we were on our way. Like most of US101 along the coast, the drive was scenic. The road gets twistier once we were south of Seal Rock. Many of the curves have 30mph speed advisories.

We arrived at the Florence Elks RV park about four miles north of town at 1:30pm. We were directed into a site in what they call their overflow meadow. It’s in a sandy clearing in a forest of cedar and other conifers. The sites are only roughly delineated and we have more than enough room for the coach without dropping the trailer and can park the Midget alongside. We also have 50amp electrical service and fresh water, no sewer hook up. Our Verizon signal is fairly good and the Dish satellite has good reception. We’re booked here for a week but we may be able to extend.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Elks

Some Like It Hot

Code Talkers

Friends and Fun Times

One Night in Montana

First Time in Salmon

Family Matters

Double Trouble

Oregon Dunes

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Florence, Oregon

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Yellow Submarine

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

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*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Share this:

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Share this:

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

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