Aloe Bloom

 It is the second day of Winter.  I have a bloom to show you.  Because Aloe are from the Southern Hemisphere they are beginning to bloom.  Here is an early Aloe bloom.  More to come.

Where Have We Been?

 Good question, but you know the answer.   On our way down to Arizona.  So here's the trip.

Day 1:(Fri)  Canby to Redmond : (156mi)  Left Canby before 10am  ( very good)  Drive over Santiam Pass was uneventful.  A little snow on the side of the road.  Arrived at RV Park in Redmond about 3:30.  Supper and conversation with Jason and Toni _ Priceless !

Day 2:(Sat)  Redmond to Standish, Ca:  (335mi)   Dry conditions, mixed sun, Arrived at RV park at 4:30.  

Day 3:(Sun)  Standish to Tonopah, Nv:  (308mi)   Sunny, dry, best fuel price (4,75) arrived at RV park 4.  Cool night at 6000 ft.

Day 4:(Mon) Tonopah, Nv to Cal Nev Ari, Nv: (280mi)  Nice dry drive, open skies.  Arrived at 3pm.

Day 5:Tues) Cal Nev Ari to Yuma:  (225mi)  Got going by 9am. This is my least favorite part of the trip (from Cal Nev Ari to Parker. narrow, curvy, "up and down").  Arrived at Quartzite about 1pm.  While fueling up, someone mentioned that one of the tires on the trailer was "dragging".  Thinking about the bearing problem we had two years ago, I checked all the hubs.  (No heat, so not the issue.)  Further searching revealed the back tire on the passenger side was missing one of the treads.  Yipes !  I called a local tire shop and found out that a new tire was in stock. "We can do it today"  Drove over and waited 2 hours until we could get the trailer into the shop.  Further searching revealed the problem; a broken spring.  The other three springs were sagging as well so the trailer's day was over.  All needed replacing.  The shop said they could do it.  The Trailer was unhooked.  We grabbed what we thought would last us the 3/4 nights in a motel; clothes, shoes, dog supplies, meds, cooler full of snacks,  Found a suitable motel with Travelocity on our way to Yuma.  By 6pm we were checked in and unloaded.

Day 6: (Wed) Trip to Los Algodones, Mexico:  (10mi)  Visited our favorite dentist and discovered that the work recommended by our local dentist is not needed.  On day is all that will be needed.  If the trailer was not an issue, we could have driven to BTA on Thursday .  However, the parts were scheduled to arrive on Friday.

Day 7&8 (Thurs) Trip to Imperial Nat. Wildlife Refuge on the Colorado River.  Perfet example of a riparian zone in a desert environment.  There were 3 Desert Tortoises that had been "pets" so could not be returned to the wild.  Each on has it's own space to roam and a den for brumation.  The day we were there one of the areas was being worked on so "Digger" was in a plastic container which he did not like.  

 

Isn't he a cutie?

Day 9  (Sat)  Yuma, Quartzite, Superior)  (250mi)  Picked up the repaired trailer.  Drove east on I-10 and arrived at BTA about 1:30  Set up in the rain.   (but that's another story) 

Be careful using a logsplitter

    Last Tuesday I helped a friend split some logs into firewood.  We rented a professional grade log splitter.  It is a powerful, but dangerous tool.  We were doing fine until I got my finger in the wrong place.  After a couple of hours at Urgent Care, I "single-Handedly " help him complete the task.

It's interesting that my middle finger has assumed the roll of the index finger since the accident and is helping me button and snap and even typing on the keyboard.

I get the stitches out on Friday after Thanksgiving but will remain bandaged and in the splint for at least another week.  Also Friday we begin our trek to Arizona.  

Snow At Night

It's that time of year.

My son took this on the road near Prineville, OR a few nights ago.

 

Winter

 It has arrived.   Early   Snow in the mountains and the passes.  Cold temps here in the valley.  I think that it maybe got to 50 today.  And LOTS of rain.  and Wind.  It reminds me of why we head south in three weeks.  Ugly weather, but that's why Oregon is so green.  Grass, trees, moss.....

  I'm ready to go,  Randa too.  The trailer is more or less ready.  Truck needs and oil change and possibly transmission.  Then there's the loading, but we can't do the food yet.  

   Hopefully the snow level will subside so that the pass highway is safe.  If not, we wait.

   Now we start planning for next summer.  Coast ?  Bonneville?  Somewhere else? 

  In the meantime, here is a photo I took this summer at the Newport Acquarium.

Trailer Fenders Update

One of the fenders repaired, repainted and remounted.

 I got pretty close to the original color which did not match the lower trim color.

 

Oregon Coast Trip October 2022

 Tomorrow Randa and I will meet with our long-time friends ( Ten Friends) that we have known for 40 + years.  We are renting a home just north of Depoe Bay, Or.  It's always very refreshing and renewing to be with these folks.  Being at the Coast will make it even better.  Arrival Thursday and return home on Sunday.  Food, fun, food, conversation, food, laughter, probably some tears, (did I mention food?) walks on the beach, naps.  Maybe we will be lucky enough to see a whale that hasn't migrated south yet.  All good things.

  We are so thankful to have this group in our lives.  Stand by for ocean  photos.  

This is from my files.  The views around Depoe Bay are just like this.

Passion Flower

 Fall is definitely here.  Today is probably the last time Oregon will see 70 degrees until next year.  The rain starts tomorrow and is predicted for the next 5 or 6 days.  So today I put the fenders back on the trailer and wax the last small section of the trailer.  It's also time to put the atio furniture into the shed for the winter.  Ugh !  I like taking it out in the spring but not putting it away.  It's like when we are srriving at t new location.  I like setting things up, but I don't enjoy packing up.

   It was 43 this morning and 71 is the predicted high today. But then we are looking forward to days in the 50s the lrest of the week with rain.  The rain is overdue and welcome, but I still prefer summer.  

  Here is a Passion Flower from our fence.  As you can see the blossoms are beautiful.  I ordered a packet of Passion Flower seeds online.  I will plant them in front of the new trellis that I built for the spot where the Dogwood Tree used to be.

 

Working on the Trailer

 One thing about having a RV, or a house for that matter, maintenance is always required.  I guess if you bought a new one every years or so, maybe you could avoid it, that's not feasible.  Being back at our home base allows us time to take care of needed and preventive chores.

   The usual items checked are tires, batteries, appliances. etc.  I have an appointment at Les Schwab to have tires, brakes and wheel bearings checked on Wednesday.  The exterior has been our focus for the last week or so.  The fenders were showing their age by developing cracks and faded paint.  New ones would be expensive if you could even find them.  I removed them epoxied the cracks and found some spray paint that comes close to the original color.  They are ready to reattach when we finish waxing the rig.  This is time when it you just how big the trailer is.  It's also helps you spot any other areas that need attention.  I have found several caulking jobs that will be next on the list.

The fenders will go back on after the waxing is done, because they will need caulking too

 

The Red Chair

Found at a garage sale

Painted several coats of red.

Ready to become the base for a flower display

 

Spider man

Spiders are busy with their lives making engineering marvels

And looking scary.

 

Headlight Replacement

 Remember when replacing a headlight was easy?  Remove the headlight ring with two screws . pull out the bulb. Detach the power cord.  Plug in the new one.  Put it back in and reattach the trim ring.  Bingo, you were done !

  Not any more.  Replacing the bulb on a newer vehicle requires watching two or three YouTube videos, twice.  Several hours of frustration and a couple of expletives and maybe you can get it done.  Yesterday I did all of the above, and accomplished the feat.  It took the alloted time and expletives but my Prius has a new driver's side headlight bulb.  It took three attempts before I got the all the steps done correctly and both the lights came on when I started the car.  😊

You can sese the bulb right?  But remember the assembly in still in the vehicle.  Long fingers and skinny hands help.

 

Wednesday Morning

 

Swan Island Dahlia Festival 2022

 The annual Swan Island Dahlia Festival is happening here in Canby.  On the north edge of town there are acres and acres of these beautiful flowers.  The festival runs August and September because that's when Dahlias are in full bloom.  I have been out there in previous years and am still amazed by the variety of blossoms that are in the Dahlia family.

We visited yesterday.  Live music, food booths, vendors selling various beads and trinkets,  

lots of folks enjoying themselves.  A good day.

  

Home in Canby

 After two night at South Beach State Park we traveled Hwy 101 north, stopping at Mo's in Lincoln City for some fish and chips.  Arrived back home about 4:00.  Decided that we had three months to unload so we just emptied the frig, unloaded our Cpaps and just relaxed.  The boys seemed to be excited at being in a house again.  "So much room to run around !"  

  The next day was a blur of activity. Many loads of laundry.  It is so nice to have a separate laundry room so that the piles stay there.  I remember having the laundry out in the garage.  Better than in a hallway or the kitchen . We opened the big slide and to help with the unload and then shampooed the carpet.  After two months at the damp and foggy coast with two dogs, it was needed. 

   The next day I put the trailer into it's space next to the garage.  There is enough room to to open the slide in the bedroom and kitchen.  The big one (living room) can opened about 60% to get to several of the cabinets if needed.  More unloading, closets and the "basement".  Boring stuff for sure. 

  It's nice having a home base.  I like our house.  We will be here until just after Thanksgiving.  But when we do come home there is always work to be done to get the place looking good again.  The sprinkler system did it's job.  The flowers look pretty good.  They need some trimming and cutting but good.  The yard is green, but the weeds are trying to take over.  More work to come.

  Anyway, Randa and I are now residents of Canby.  Living in a three bedroom house like normal folks do.  Sitting in our recliners at night watching movies or HGTV with the boys sleeping nearby.  Pretty much the same as we do when we are in the RV.   Life is good.

Remembering

  

Wednesday Aug 31, 2022

 Our last day on the coast and we are going to make the most of it.   We will be leaving South Beach State Park after two pleasant nights.  Considering the number of rigs camping in this place, it's is a pretty nice facility.  There are plenty of trails and beach to visit and walk on and the Newport area is full of attractions.  

    We will start by visiting the Newport Bay Aquarium.  Photos to follow.  !  

More Umpqua Lighthouse photos

Randa took a better photo than I did. These are hers.  Notice the Coast Guard residences nearby.

The road goes right by the site so access is far better than Blanco

This photo shows the early bulbs used in the lighthouse.  The latest bulbs are the size of your thumb  

and 1000 watts.  How long will it be until the ones here at Umpqua are swapped for LED like Blanco ?

 

 

One of the portals on the trails at Cape Blanco.  

Monday 29 Aug revision

 Today we pulled out of our spot at Blanco.  It was a bitter-sweet time.  It was a good experience and we felt that we contributed to the visitors education.  Not being able to show them the light, was an unfortunate part.  The lens is spectacular.  But it was time to move on.  We were starting to grow tired of the wind.

  So we headed north just a little before 10.  We stopped at Fred Meyer for some groceries.  Then our next stop was the Umpqua Lighthouse near Winchester.  It was great fun to take the tour and compare it to Blanco.  Tour participants get to go up three steps an stick our upper body into the inside of the light.  WOW ! There are pluses and minuses to each tour. 

Notice the colors.  The "signature" of this light is "White-White-Red"  As you can see from the pattern the is close together.  Rapid repetition of beams.  This shows that Umpqua is a welcoming light .  Blanco's signature is a flash, then 18 seconds of dark, repeat.  Blanco is a "Stay Away " light.

_

Randa and I are going to check out the possibility of volunteering at Umpqua for a change of scenery.

Sorry for the lousy photo.

Blacklock Point

 Tuesday we drove to the Blacklock Airport which was established by the Navy during WW II.  We parked there and walked a bit over a mile out to the next point north of Cape Blanco.  From there we had a great but distant view of the lighthouse.  After taking about a dozen photos I finally got a shot of the lighthouse during it's flash.

It was one of those, "Oh my what a beautiful  day" day at the coast.  The sky was blue, blue.  The Pacific was green.  The view spectacular.  The wind was....windy.

It was truly a good day.

Getting close to packing up time

 The volunteer stints at the Oregon State Parks last from the first day to the last day.  They expect you to be packed up and gone by noon on the 1st of the month so that the next volunteer can get in and get set up..  The way our schedule is this month our last work day is Sunday, August 28 .  Monday and Tuesday are normal days off and and Wednesday is our scheduled day off so it works out that we can leave early.  So our plans are to pull out of the campsite on Monday morning and work our way north.  We have two nights reserved at South Beach SP just south of Newport so we can stop along the way as we want to.  I would have preferred to stay another night but there weren't any sites that were open for three nights.  So we will head on home on the 31st .

  Randa and I are ready to be home for a while.  We have had a great experience, again , here and the cape but we are ready.  I don't remember having so many days of fog.  Having sunny days makes us happy.  So many days of little or no winds to move the fog.  We have had the heat on every day since we arrived on July 30th.  

   The park has changed as too.  Well not so much the park as the lighthouse experience.  The road out to the lighthouse is closed to the public.  The road has deteriorated and it shows some signs of sluffing off in several areas, so the decision was made to restrict traffic to employees and volunteers only.  The public must now park at the headlands and walk the 1/2 mile out to the site.  Of course this limits the access to some folks.

   In addition, the lighthouse tower access has been cutoff.  There are several bricks in the tower structure that need to be examined by an engineer to determine if the stairway is safe for visitors to climb.  Seeing the light and lens from the tower was the highlight of the visit to the lighthouse.  It is so disappointing to tell our guests that they can no longer go up to the top.

    Joe, the park superintendent , told me that through a grant, both the road and the tower are going to be examined to determine if either of the problems are fixable.  I have my fingers crossed but fear the worst. The are two fault lines that cross the isthmus making it vulnerable to further damage.  Some day the site may become an island.

A photo of visitors in 1871 

Flying the US Flag

 We have been coming to Cape Blanco for many years.  We have volunteered here 4 times and just camped many more.  During that time one thing that has always bothered me is how the flag has been displayed.   There is a certain etiquette in the flying of the United States flag.  It is either flown from sunrise to sunset or flown 24 hrs a day which requires a light to shown on it during the night.  Here the flag was up there at the top of the pole, day and night.

  Finally it bugged me enough to mention it to a ranger about three weeks ago.  I suggested that she bring it up at the next ranger meeting .  Nothing happened right away.  I was tempted to bring it up to the superintendent but I just waited.  Last week on my evening walk around the campground loop with the boys, I noticed a change.  A light !!  Shining up !  The flag is now lit at night.  It made me smile when I saw it that night. Overdue but not in the dark any longer.

 

The New Light at Cape Blanco

 There is a new light source at the Cape Blanco Lighthouse.  From 1936 until March of 2022 there has been a series on incandescent light bulbs sending out warnings to mariners passing by.  "STAY AWAY"  The last were a pair of 1000 watt bulbs that were on a frame that offered an instant replacement when the first bulb failed.  

   All that changed in March of 2022 when the Coast Guard ANT (Aid to Navigation Team) replaced the unit with a LED light source.  There are many advantages to the switch.  Much longer life,  Cheaper to operate (250 W vs 1000 W ) .  Much , much brighter light.  Looks like something from the future.

But it's not the same.  The light (as a LED is much more directional so much of the Fresnel lens is not utilized so the light beam is not as tall.  The beam used to be visible from the visitor canter.  Now the beam is over our heads and only visible from afar. 

Take a look

Cape Blanco Fresnel Lens Compared to Cape Arrago Lens

The Blanco Lens is a Second Order  - 7 ft tall   

The Cape Arrago Lens a Fourth Order _  3.5 ft

We feel privileged to be able to be inches away from each one.

(be sure to tap on each to enlarge them)

 

Coos History Museum

 Downtown Coos Bay is a treasure we discovered on our day off week.  The building is brand new in among retail stores that are built on an area that once was an enormous pile of wood chips.  Chip trucks would back up to the pile and the trailer would be lifted and tilted to pour out the ground-up wood waste of lumber mills.  A huge bulldozer would move the pile further up the pile to give room for the next rig.  Enormous ships would moor in the adjacent Coos River for the transfer and out to sea they would go heading west.   It is odd to see retail there now.  Time moves on.

   Back to the museum.  Nicely done.  Emphasis on the bay area history divided into sections like lumber, commerce, Native Americans, early white settlers, environment.   The highlight for us was the Fresnel Lens that once protected the Cape Arrago area of the coast.  About 35 years ago we rented a beach house on the road to Sunset Bay.  From the kitchen window the Arrago light was visible.  At dark the light would wash the house at a prescribed interval/  The memory makes me smile.  

   I have downloaded a photo of the view we had from the house.  The walkway had been dismantled. The light decommissioned and the lens removed.  Usually that means it gets lost in some warehouse somewhere.   Not this time!  It is proudly displayed in the Coos History Museum. 

This is a Fourth Order Fresnel Lens.  It's about 40 inches tall. 

 It is truly a piece of art

 

Mushrooms in the woods

                 A morning walk in the woods around here gives you plenty to enjoy.  

Trees

 The Woods here is awesome.  The state park has a variety of areas, some grass, lots of brush, Salal, Huckleberry, and others. Then there are lots of trees.  Not many, if any, hardwoods.  

 Happily I haven't seen any Gorse in my walks.  It is an invasive weed that is quite a problem in the Bandon area because was brought to the US by Lord Bennett in 1873s from his native Ireland.  He planted what he called Furze to remind him of home and it has spread like a weed choking out native plants and trees and is an extreme fire hazard when it dries out in the summer.  The town of Bandon burned twice because of it's flammability.  

   Anyway, back to the trees.  I'm not sure what they are but they are magnificent.

Don't you think they would be fun to climb?