Soutern Oregon Coast

I don’t really have much to talk about but I have a few pictures. We are currently staying at a place on the Southern Oregon Coast. We can’t see the ocean from where we are, but we’re backed up right on a lake and it’s really pretty. This is a nice, quiet park with nice, friendly people running it. Since it’s off-season for this area, there aren’t a lot of boats on the lake, just the die-hard fisherman. We’ve had all sorts of weather here since we arrived on the 20th of Oct. A few days ago the Coast was having Gale Force Wind Warnings. We saw the tail of that and got knocked around a little and there was heavy rain, coming in sideways…that of course…blew out our heater…again! So we bought a space heater and decided to go that route instead of spending $100 (our deductible if the guy who fixes it is certified in the state) every time the wind blows while it’s raining. The space heater rocks. It’s really small, so it’s not in the way and it has a temp control so it turns itself on and off as it’s needs to. Not to mention that it will be running on electricity that we are already paying for and not burning up our propane like the on-board heater did.

We’re really enjoying the days when it’s not dumping rain. The day there were Gale warnings we drove out along the Cape Arago Highway and took some snaps. We were standing out on a point at the end of the highway and I had to brace myself against a rock wall and lean into the wind to keep from getting knocked over. We took some quick snaps there and got back in our truck. Before that we stopped at Simpson Reef to see the Sea Lions/Cows and Seals. They congregate here because the reef naturally protects them; it’s really something to listen to them all barking. There are hundreds of them on these rocks. We also stopped at a little cove (can’t remember the name of it) and watched the Seagulls playing in the wind. Bill made comments about the size of the Seagulls, they are about twice the size of the ones you find on the East Coast, they’re big birds. It was fun to watch them try to fly in those winds. They would be going along just fine and all of the sudden they’d disappear, getting blown about 10-20 feet away in a matter of a second. Those that chose to keeps their webbed feet on the sand, sometimes got blown over by a gust of wind, it was pretty funny.

Well, I think that’s about all right now. Mostly we are trying to settle down and relax a bit. Trying to recover from our whirlwind (sometimes literally) tour and regroup.

Hugs~
;-)K

More Insanity

Today is October 22nd and we’ve been back in Oregon since the 19th. Things just got too crazy to deal with anymore. The night before my birthday I didn’t sleep well because of this cold I have, and therefore Bill didn’t sleep well either. We woke up in the morning and the heater in our RV was broken. Apparently the severe thunder/lightening/hail storms that were blowing the rain sideways blew it right into the ventilated cover that has all the electronics for our heater in it…fried….sweet! So it’s cold, we have no heat, and I’m sick…wonderful!! The repair guy can’t get to us until noon, so I bundle up and wait. He shows up, says he doesn’t have the part and he’ll be back in a bit when he gets it. Three hours later he comes back, I’m a Popsicle. I’ve been on the phone with the warranty people and they just need to chat with the repair guy to get his info so they can cover us. Turns out they can’t cover us because this guy isn’t licensed and bonded…wonderful times two!! Whatever, we get the heater fixed and we get a refund on our spot because there are now not only severe storm warnings, but tornado warnings to the west of us…does it get any better than that? Tornados…in the desert! So we hit the road around 5pm on the 18th, that’s right, happy birthday to me. We drive for 16 straight hours that puts us just north of Sacramento, CA. We pull into a Wal-Mart and sleep for about 2+ hours until I’m woken up by the sound of people and the fact that my throat hurts really bad and I’ve lost my voice, terrific!! Go into Wal-Mart, load up on cough medicine, cough drops, and zinc lozenges and hit the road again. We stopped in Redding for lunch, and then cruised all the way, up hill at 40 MPH, to Coos Bay, OR. Got to the KOA in Coos Bay around 10pm the 19th. Backed in, stayed hitched, microwaved some dinner then went to bed. Woke up at 9am and our alarm clock was some jackwad revving the engine of ATV right next door…guess where we’re NOT staying. So, we packed up (wasn’t hard since we didn’t really set down) and headed to another park about 10miles farther north. This place ROCKS!! The park we are at now sits right on a lake and we have a back up spot that looks out onto the lake and the hills, it’s really one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. Last night was quiet and peaceful and I slept like a log. We are glad to be in this park; the only downside is that they don’t have wireless internet and only one high-speed port in the entire park. You can pay for dial-up at your site, but the lines are often busy. We are finding ways to get around that and hopefully that won’t be prohibitive for us staying here.

That’s all for now. It’s been a crazy ride, and we’re hoping that things will calm down a bit now.

Hugs~
;-)K