Travel Log, August '04
(Part II)
Travel Log Aug 16/04, Day 19
Got up at our leisure, had breakfast, did laundry & dishes…
We made our lunch and took it down to the ocean. We sat by a log and looked at the kites, ocean and people while we ate. Barry flew kites, I read, and Tiki snoozed in the shade. Then I tried flying Barry’s ‘Slingshot’ kite…and low and behold, I thought it was a lot of fun. I may want a kite of my very own now…
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We walked further up the beach and through the vendors’
area, then back to the RV Park. We sat
in the sunshine in our LaFumas for awhile, then took the scooters and went
grocery shopping. When we got back to
the RV Park, our friends
They gave Tiki a new stuffed animal; it is a monkey with a grass skirt and bikini top. It was hilarious to watch him with his new ‘Girlfriend’…she was almost as big as he is.
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After dinner we made “Blizzards” with chocolate ice cream, chipits and broken up cookies…it was delicious.
Then, we spent the evening playing video games. What fun!
Overnight: SANDCASTLE RV IN
ODOMETER – 54,339
TRAVELED – 0 MILES
Travel Log Aug 17/04, Day 20
We had a leisurely morning, met with Candis &
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We strolled home and relaxed, reading & working at the computer.
Had a delicious dinner on the BBQ and spent a quiet evening indoors. We played ‘007’ together, had a great time and called it a night.
Overnight:
ODOMETER – 54,339
TRAVELED – 0 MILES
Travel Log Aug 18/04, Day 21
Today, we slept in, then got up and had our tea and coffee. For brunch, we went all out and had a delicious bacon & eggs breakfast made on the BBQ.
I sat to read; Barry took his scooter and scooted down to the Kite Festival to watch the fighter kites.
When he came back, we headed downtown to get me my first kite. I bought a ‘Prism Fanatic’ – it is so pretty, in purple & pink and see-through sections. It is a two line stunt kite and I can’t wait to fly it. Barry bought a 7 foot ‘Rokkaku’; affectionately know as a “Rok”. It is called ‘Snake Eyes’ because it has two die and lots of colours. It looks great and I can’t wait to see it in the air. The purpose of this kite is to hold up all of Barry’s ‘kite laundry’, meaning stuff like tubes and animals and kites that just go up in the air to look great, you don’t actually fly them, they just hang off the main kites line.
Actually, Barry and I bought a sewing machine a few years ago and a bunch of kite materials so that he could make some kite laundry. He made some and then we just got too busy. We can hardly wait to stay at a place long enough (probably in Baha) where we can sit down and make some more kite laundry.
Anyway, we then went down to the beach with
Barry helped me set up my new kite; we had a glass of wine
then went over to Candis &
Overnight: SAND CASTLE RV,
ODOMETER – 54,339
TRAVELED – 0 MILES
Travel Log Aug 19/04, Day 22
After breakfast, Barry took his scooter and headed down to learn how to fly the fighter kites, then he flew in a competition with other amateurs. He had a great time.
Tiki and I took my scooter and went shopping for some kite
line laundry. We had a great ole
time.
I drove my scooter down to where Barry was at the beach and watched him in the competition. He explained the rules and it looked like fun. Barry got two fighter kites for free, so he will teach me and we will compete against each other…
We then headed downtown to buy the kite laundry, we decided on a 12 foot long, yellow, Octopus, with these long flowing legs and these big friendly eyes.
We had made arrangements to meet
We came home and had a bevy and made dinner. Our bodies are sore and tired; however, we
feel great & had a wonderful day. We
had a quiet evening reading and relaxing.
Overnight: SAND CASTLE RV,
ODOMETER – 54,339
TRAVELED – 0 MILES
Travel Log Aug 20/04, Day 23
We had our tea and coffee and then saw
We walked around the kite festival for awhile, looking at
kite demonstrations and all of the great kites.
Nice quiet day. When we came back
home I read and Barry checked and responded to emails. He also called
Overnight: SAND CASTLE RV,
ODOMETER – 54,339
TRAVELED – 0 MILES
Travel Log Aug 21/04, Day 24
A leisurely morning, we had our tea & coffee and watched
TV. Had breakfast and watched some more
TV. How decadent. It is really so incredible to get up without
an alarm, to sit and have coffee and tea while we chat or read, then have
breakfast and start our day around 9 or 10 am.
Calls started coming in at
Around
Overnight: SANDCASTLE RV,
ODOMETER – 54,339
TRAVELED – 0 MILES
Travel Log Aug 22/04, Day 25
Happy Birthday Dad (Bouley)!!
Still raining, we packed up and left Long Beach this morning. Stopped to make and eat our breakfast at a park along the Columbia River. It is still raining.
We are now in Longview, checked into the RV Park in Kelso, where Bill & Janet Adams are staying. Once we have a break in the rain, we will get our MotoSAT installed. We can hardly wait to have full computer access everywhere we go. We finally got the break in the rain that we were looking for. Our MotoSAT is installed and we will get our account number tomorrow (Monday), and then we will be ready to go.
Since we are not completely set up to check emails yet, we went to check and return emails at the computer room the park has provided. This is a really nice RV Park, with paved roads, street names, cement pads, each site has room for your coach and your town vehicle, if you have one, a picnic table, green space and landscaping on either side…very different then in Long Beach where we were packed in there like sardines.
We later went for a walk along the dyke with a beautiful river on the other side, watched some TV and went to bed.
Overnight - BROOKHOLLOW RV PARK,
(Joined the Good Sam Club – will
give us all kinds of discounts)
ODOMETER – 54,409
TRAVELED – 70 MILES
Travel Log Aug 23/04, Day 26
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We had lunch in the parking lot tried out our new connections, then hit the road. We traveled to Fred Myers (Grocery Store) in Warrenton and did shopping and hung out there in our RV until it started to get dark. We asked at the Customer Service desks at Fred Myer and Costco if we could stay in their parking lot for the night. Both said that staying free overnight was no longer allowed; the police started patrolling it when KOA Campgrounds complained they were losing money.
We drove down the highway, crossing over the state line from Washington to Oregon.
Overnight - HIGH SCHOOL PARKING
ODOMETER – 54,486
TRAVELED – 77 MILES
Travel Log Aug 24/04, Day 27
Got up early and drove to
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Spent most of the day in the coach checking & responding to emails, updating travel log, reading, short stroll on the beach until it started to rain again. We made a few phone calls.
Then we headed down the highway around 4:00 pm., we wanted to find a place to stay tonight “before” it gets dark.
We drove to Canon Beach; it was just gorgeous, with its endless sand beach, huge sea stacks, fog, wind, rain…very beautiful.
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After parking the coach we walked through Canon Beach (the town) then down the beach and back to the coach. We drove to Manzanita and all around the town looking for a place to boon dock. Finally we turned down Hwy 53 and down this country road to a place called Mohler. We asked the owner of a country store (Jackie) if we could stay in her parking lot overnight and she said “Sure”, she was so sweet.
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As we were driving down the country road, two beautiful horses ran along the fence beside us, absolutely stunning.
We are now set for the night, before dark, we have a “Mikes Hard Lemonade” in hand and look forward to dinner and a quiet evening.
Overnight - COUNTRY STORE PARKING
LOT IN MOHLER – FREE
ODOMETER – 54,534
TRAVELED – 48 MILES
Travel Log Aug 25/04, Day 28
Got up and had breakfast and headed south, we plan to travel along the coast for a bit and then head inland for a few days. We want to do some 'tourist type' stops as well as do some “tax free” shopping.
While on the coast we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We had a tour, watched a video, sampled some cheeses, bought some cheese curds, some smoked extra sharp cheddar, some pepperoni sticks and some fudge. It was well worth stopping for. We had bought Tillamook Monterey Jack Cheese at one of the grocery stores and just loved it, so it was cool to see how and where it was made.
Then we took the scenic route, and drove up to Cape Meares. It was gorgeous!! The ocean, cliffs, huge waves, walking paths, view points and a light house made the stop memorable.
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It started to rain so we headed back to the coach for lunch of crackers, cheese curds, pepperoni sticks, pesto and guacamole taco chips. Delicious…
After the rain stopped and we finished our lunch we walked up a trail to see the 'Octopus Tree'. It was a Sitka Spruce, with a trunk of 50 ft in diameter.
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We pulled into a State Park to see if we could dump our tanks, and found out that there were all kinds of people in bathing suits…so we suited up and joined them down on the beach. The ocean was painfully cold; however, we quickly adjusted and had a great time. You don’t get a chance to wade in very far, before the waves come crashing into you and you are all wet. Soon we were swimming, diving under, letting the waves carry us into shore and then wading back out again. It was so much fun, we decided we wanted to buy some 'body boards' and the next time we were at a surf shop, we would price them out.
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We headed back to the coach, showered and got dressed and
headed down the highway. It is now already
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It was so beautiful and private we decided to call it a day. We ate dinner, I read, Barry worked on the computer, and later we chatted and went to bed…half expecting a knock on the door in the middle of the night, asking us to move on. We may have learned some things today (time will tell).
1) We were able to dump and get fresh water for free in a State Park.
2) When no signs are posted “prohibiting overnight camping” we are able to stay for free.
Overnight -
ODOMETER – 54,591
TRAVELED - 57 MILES
Travel Log Aug 26/04, Day 29
Wow! Waking up to this view and the crashing waves of the surf is not too bad at all. What a gorgeous spot to have our breakfast.
We headed up the highway and spent most of the day at Cape Kiwanda, a little place with a large parking lot right beside the ocean. I read, worked on the Travel Log and went for a walk with Tiki. Barry returned some emails and worked on our website & map route.
In the late afternoon we headed down the coast and then inland on Highway 18. We continued on to McMinnville. We are now parked at the Evergreen Aviation Museum, the home of Howard Hughes – Spruce Goose – the flying boat that Hughes built in 1947.
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They are closed, so we will spend the night in their parking lot and visit the museum in the morning. When we first arrived here, we met a man named Jack, his mother and grandson and they invited us over for a Pepsi and a quick visit. Jack owns a 1950’s amphibious car, one of only about 500 left in the world. After being in the museum lot for a few hours, the grandson of the owner of the museum came zooming up in his truck and told us to move on. We went to the Wal-Mart parking lot and had dinner, played cards, stayed in their lot for the night.
Overnight - WALMART IN MCMINNVILLE,
OR – FREE
ODOMETER – 54,686
TRAVELED – 95 MILES
Travel Log Aug 27/04, Day 30
We had breakfast in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Then we went to the Evergreen Aviation Museum. The building itself was incredible. I don’t know if a picture can capture how dramatic the entrance to the property was…
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We saw the worlds largest Amphibious Airplane – the Spruce Goose. As I mentioned it was built in the 1940’s by Howard Hughes. It was flown only one time and spent over 30 years in storage. It has now been restored and is the center piece for this aviation museum. The other planes we saw included the Wright Flyer (replica), WWI & WWII fighters & an SR71 Blackbird to name a few.
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We then headed to Wilsonville to do our shopping at Camping World. We proceeded to a park by the Willamette River and sat relaxing while looking out over the river.
We then drove around to find a good spot to park for the night and wound up at the new School District Office, new parking lot, buildings, landscaping and playground. Very pretty, nice and quiet.
Overnight - SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICE
IN WILSONVILLE, OR – FREE
ODOMETER – 54,730
TRAVELED – 46 MILES
Travel Log Aug 28/04, Day 31
We woke up to a beautiful pink sunrise and the sound of the landscapers outside the coach. Drove to a quieter spot and had breakfast, read, had our tea & coffee and a nice chat. We are so happy that our traveling is going so well and that we have adjusted so easily to traveling full time.
We stopped at a State Park on the way to Salem, showered, did dishes, dumped and filled with fresh water for FREE; we are definitely on to something here. That ‘was’ the only problem that we found about boondocking and now it seems to be solved. Cool!
We continued on to Salem, did groceries at Fred Myers, Tiva’s and Bathing Suit at Copeland Sports, Windows XP and coach security system at Best Buy. We are getting to know some of the stores in the US. Drove to Wal-Mart, too tired to go in tonight to ask permission. I sat and read, Barry worked on the computer, we had dinner and settled in for the evening.
Overnight - WALMART PARKING
ODOMETER – 54,778
TRAVELED – 48 MILES
Travel Log Aug 29/04, Day 32
Had breakfast in the Wal-Mart parking lot, relaxed and chatted over tea & coffee. Made plans for the day. We then walked over to Garts Sporting Goods to see if they had any of the shoes / sandals that we were still looking for. We both had waited until we go to Oregon to buy everything we needed, because there was no tax. However, we were not having a lot of luck as most of the stores had put away their summer stock. Well, Garts was a different story. We both found ‘Birk like’ sandals by OP, we both found leather flip-flops, and we both found running shoes. The prices were incredible. There were great sale prices and on top of that, they had 'buy one get one for ½ price'. We spent a fraction of what we thought we were going to spend. Excellent!
We then went to Wal-Mart to do our Wal-Mart shopping list. We came home and did some odd jobs around and in the coach, had dinner, went for a walk, it was a beautiful warm evening. We then sat in the dark chatting and watching the goings on in the Wal-Mart parking lot and went to bed early.
Overnight - WALMART PARKING
ODOMETER – 54,797
TRAVELED – 19 MILES
Travel Log Aug 30/04, Day 33
Got up, had breakfast in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Then we drove to the Ford Dealership to get some spare parts and inquire about a heavier duty axle for the coach. They told Barry that the axle on the new Forest River Georgetown is the same as the one on our 2000 Georgetown. The difference between ours with a GVWR of 18, 000 lbs and the newer model with GVWR of 22,000 lbs is only the leaf springs, and we already had this upgrade work done in Canada!! The axle would have cost us $3-5k!! So, needless to say we are really pleased we do not have to have any extra work done. We then went to G&S Machine Shop to find out what it would cost to do the aluminum welding on the scooter cover. The cover needs reinforcements; it was not made quite strong enough for the high winds and rain. Anyway, we have an appointment for 8:00 am and they said we could park in their lot. We also set up with an appointment for 1:00 pm with Brooks Automotive to change the engine oil & filter, as well as check and re-pack the bearings on the rear axle.
We went to a City Park here in Salem and did some odd jobs, including making a
cover for the couch. We put out a tarp on the grass,
Barry directed the fabric towards the sewing machine, I pushed the sewing machine peddle with my
hand, it was a very hot, sunny day and it was great fun to sew outside.
We must have looked hilarious though; this guy walked by and said “Now that
takes all the fun out of picnicking doesn’t it?” Yea, but if you ‘have’ to
sew what a place to do it J
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We had dinner at the park and sat around chatting until the sun went down. Then, we drove back to G&S Machine Shop for the night.
Overnight - G&S MACHINE SHOP,
ODOMETER – 54,816
TRAVELED – 19 MILES
Travel Log Aug 31/04, Day 34
Got up, showered, had breakfast, put on laundry (happened to be a laundromat right next store to G&S). When the welder came in at 8:00 am we showed him what we needed done and he worked on it. We did some odd jobs, I worked on more typing for the travel log, Barry put some water in the reserve tank for the coolant and worked around the outside of the coach. G&S did a great job on the scooter cover and now it is better then ever.
When we went to our 1:00 pm appointment, we quickly realized we did not want them to work on our coach. We made up an excuse and left. We re-called the guy at the Ford Dealership to get the name and number of the place he recommended. However, when we called there, we found out they only did work on diesels. So, we will just have to get it done another time. We drove back to a place near the Wal-Mart parking lot and got two new batteries for the coach and some odds and ends at Home Depot. We can hardly wait until our shopping is all done, we hate shopping!! And, we want to get out of the city and back to the coast ASAP.
We headed down Highway 22, then Highway 18. When we got near Grand Ronde, we decided to look for a place to stay. As you may have guessed Barry and I love the water, so whenever possible we like to stay where we have a view of the water. Any water, the ocean, a lake, a river and evidently sewage lagoons J. Anyway we were driving down the highway when we saw Yamhill River Road and it sounded promising, so we turned down it, and ended up taking all of these back roads, way back in the bush. We went up this very narrow, paved forest service road, one that we would have had to back back down if we could not find a place to turn around.
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Well, we drove and drove and finally found a place to turn our 33ft (+ 5ft of scooter rack) coach around. We stayed parked in that 'turn around' for the night. The trees were cleared enough that we could see a gorgeous full moon rising. It illuminated the entire side of the coach and a lot of the forest near by. It was completely silent; we could see the Big Dipper as clear as can be. However, we noticed that the Big Dipper was perfectly upright, just like someone had taken a big scoop out of a pot and was poised to put it in a bowl. It was neat to notice its different orientation to Victoria, BC. It is so quiet and peaceful here; it is great to be out of the city of Salem.
Overnight - OFF OF
MILEAGE – 54,857
TRAVELED – 41 MILES
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