Apr 29th - Arrived Coos Bay

We arrived at Midway RV Park in Coos Bay, Oregon a little before 5 PM.

We left Eureka a little before 10 AM. We travelled around 230 miles today. The distance was split about equally between California and Oregon. The portion in California was twisty, up hill and down hill, etc, again. In Oregon the road improved. Kathy drove the nasty CA roads and I drove the better OR roads.

The photos below show the ocean that is on one side and the meadows and trees on the other.

Once again there were redwood trees right up nest to the road.

And the road was twisty.

There were lots of areas where the edge of the road was just gone. It had slipped down the hill, typically 2-3 feet down.

We stopped at a rest area in Oregon for lunch.





Parked at the campground. Note the hedges between all the "campsites".

We even have cable TV here! I've got it hooked it up temporary. Tomorrow I have to see if I can figure out the correct way to hook it up.

I think we will stay here 3 nights and then move north again. It is only a little over 200 miles to the camp where we will next volunteer.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

Apr 28th - Saturday Night at the Races

I went over and watched the races tonight, Kathy stayed at the RV and watched the finish of the Nascar race.

They ran four different types of cars. First there were heat races, two for one of the classes, and then they ran "main events" for each class. The classes were Roadrunner, Real Stock, Thunder Roadsters & Sportsman.

There was one bad wreck in the entry level class, the Roadrunners. In that one they had to cut the car apart to get the driver out. He was initially unconscious. By the time they got the car cut apart, got him on a back board and into the ambulance he had regained consciousness and was talking to the EMT's.

The wreck occurred during the 25 lap feature for the Roadrunners. My old 510 Datsun would have fit right in with the cars that were being run. Just take out the glass and weld in a roll cage. The feature for this class was becoming a joke. The most laps they got in between wrecks was four. Usually they didn't even make two laps without a yellow. One reason was because there were 17 cars on the 3/8 mile track in the feature. They never did manage to get in 25 laps. They called the race after the bad accident.

Other than the one accident it was an enjoyable evening.

Good night and may God bless you and yours.

Apr 28th - Eureka Sight Seeing Day

Today we spent the afternoon looking around Eureka. I laid about all morning. Kathy did some laundry and a little laying about.

Our first stop with the Blue Ox Millworks http://www.blueoxmill.com/index.html

The bad news was that since they had they ran their trolley car in the Rhododendron parade today. (We didn't get around in time to go watch the parade) A lot of Blue Ox people were riding the trolley and the place was officially closed today. The good news was that they let us just wander around anyway.

First, getting there is interesting. The tourist information says they are located at the corner of 1st Street and X Street. Below is a photo of that corner and yes it is the entrance to the place. There are absolutely no signs. Even after driving into the driveway I wasn't sure what we were getting in to.

 Walking around the grounds you find some strange things.

This building is one of the "skid" buildings. It represents a "theater" building that might have been part of a logging camp. Some times it would take two years to log an area. Many of the loggers would be a long way from home and the "theater" served as a place for meetings and entertainment. The trim around the top is all plaster crown molding, it would not have been that way in a logging camp. The buildings were call "skid" buildings because they were built on skids. After an area had been logged, oxen were hooked to the skids and the buildings were "skidded" to the next site.

 This is part of the blacksmith area.

 Now we are getting into the millwork area. This is only a small part of the wood working area. They can saw up to 30" diameter timbers.

 This is the view out the "back door" of the property.

This place was fantastic. If you ever are in the Eureka area put it on your list of things that you have to see. By the way, check out their web site. The place is fully operational. They continually make historic trim, gutters, etc.

Lunch at the Cafe Nooner came next. I had a cup of soup with lots of mushrooms, celery and chili peppers and a a Creole BBQ Pork Sandwich. Kathy had a Nooner Club Chicken sandwich. We split an order of really good onion rings.

After lunch we walked around the old town area of Eureka. There are many, many beautiful buildings.

 And lots of murals.

This photo is of the boardwalk along the bay area. Lots of beautiful boats in the harbor.

After the sightseeing we came back to the RV, at the fairgrounds. There is a 3/8 mile, asphalt track here and the cars are out practicing for a tonights races. We are less than a half mile from the center of the track. It is beautiful, maybe a little cool, here and we will probably go over and check out the racing later. The gates were supposed to have opened at 5:00, about 20 minutes ago, but I don't see a lot of cars in the lot yet. Racing is supposed to start at 7:00 or 7:30, I can't remember which.

After we got back from sight seeing I walked around the fair grounds. There are over a hundred horses boarded here, out beyond the race track. There are several large pens/lots for rodeos and/or showing horses.

We are still trying to decide whether or not to move north, into Oregon, tomorrow. We don't know of anything else in the area that we really want to see.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

Apr 27th - Exploring South

The day was mostly sunny and cool. Not cool enough to wear a jacket, although when in the shade for an extended period of time one would have felt good.

This morning we went to the Samoa Cookhouse for breakfast. It was originally a cookhouse for loggers.

Food is served family style, it is "all you can eat". There is no menu. You get what they have fixed for the meal. I guess you can call and find out what they are serving for the day. You sit at long tables.

This morning they started Kathy and I off with at least a quart of orange juice, two biscuits and gravy, a bowl of scrambled eggs, hash browns, 6 sausage links, two pieces of sourdough Texas toast and a pot of coffee. The waitress came back a couple of times to make sure everything was OK and to ask if we wanted more of anything.

There were some interesting artifacts in an area off the dining area. Right at the top of the photo is a chain saw hanging from the ceiling. It must have at least a 5' bar.

The cookhouse is located on an island. The location is shown by the red "A" on the map below. The fairgrounds, where we are staying, are shown as the gray area, just to the right of the green area, at the bottom of the photo. It was about a 6 mile drive that took about 15 minutes.

On the way home we stopped at a "wholesale" grocery store and at a Costco. Bought a few things, but nothing special.
Once we got back to the fairground I walked over to the office and paid for a 3 night stay. This horse, made out of redwood limbs, is next to the fairground office.

When we came yesterday we noticed the the trailer shown below. I'm waiting to see them hook it up and tow it down the road <grin>.

After getting our groceries unloaded, and paying our space rental we headed south. Our first stop was the Loleta Cheese Factory in Ferndale. Ferndale is about 15 miles southwest of the fairgrounds. Loleta is pretty much a boarded up little town. The front of the cheese factory is an old storefront and it was much smaller than I expected. In the back were a lot of tanks of course. They have two of the "vats" shown in the photo below. They start the process by pumping 1,750 gallons of fresh milk into one of the tanks. Six hours later they guys are dipping out the cheese.

The liquid has all been drained and all that is left is cheese curds, 15-18" deep in the bottom of the vat. These guys are dipping out the curds and putting them in boxes behind them. Each box holds 40# of cheese. The curds will compress and become a solid 40# chunk of cheese. The place was quite interesting.

From Loleta we headed on down to Ferndale. Ferndale's entire downtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We had a great time walking up and down and checking out the stores.

Then it was on to the Avenue of Giants. A 33 mile road that parallels Hwy 101 and which goes through thousands of acres of redwoods. We only drove part of it. It was quite a disappointment, probably because we had spent time walking around the Armstrong Redwoods in Guerneville. One thing I wanted to see was the Eternal Tree House. It was interesting but wasn't worth the drive. The door in the photo below goes into a room that was hewn out of a redwood stump, many, many years ago. The room is roughly circular. The largest dimension is 20'

Finally it was back to the the fairgrounds. The day was busy and we are tired, but it was an enjoyable day. Tomorrow is the Rhododendron Parade. We will probably go check it out. There are huge rhododendrons all over the place. They are beautiful. After the parade we will probably check out the old downtown Eureka.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.



Apr 26th - Eureka

We are parked at the fairgrounds in Eureka, California tonight. It drizzled some while we were packing up and heading out, but nothing to bad. Had some occasionally drizzle on the way here but mostly just partly cloudy.

We drove highway 101 from Santa Rosa to Eureka. Total trip was about 230 miles. We left Mt. Gilead a little before 10 and pulled in to the campground a little before 5.
There was one place where the road was straight for a quarter mile, but only one. Most straight sections were 100 yards long, at best.

We stopped for lunch along the road.

Stretching our legs after lunch

Lunch views, out our dining area window

The other side

Lots of trees along the highway in places

Some fairly close to the road



Some closer to the road

And some right up to the road

There was no navigating involved in todays drive, just stay on 101. I did the driving. We spent maybe a half hour during our lunch stop and maybe lost 20 minutes during a fuel stop. After seeing the photos above you get an idea of why it took us 7 hours to drive 230 miles. There were significant stretches of highway that were MUCH better, almost Interstate quality, then there was the rest. Can you see how white my knuckles are <grin>. Actually Kathy did quite well riding. She had no problems on 101. On the way from the campground to Sebastopol she was certain that I was going to drop off the edge of the highway in a couple of places. At one point she claimed that only half the tire was on the road and the rest of it was hanging over the ditch.

Eventually we arrived and got set up. We are at the fairgrounds. It isn't fancy but we have a full hookup (water, sewer & electricity). We even have 50 amp electrical. The full rate is $25/night (I think the local KOA was close to $50/night). With our Good Sam's membership we will get a 20% discount but I think our Escapees membership will get us a 50% discount. The "host" couldn't take credit cards so we need to go up to the fair office in the morning and pay.

We will stay here at least two nights and maybe as many as four nights. Depends on how well we like the area.

After a great supper, Kathy fixed pork chops, squash, and a salad, we decided that we needed to help out the local economy. She had spotted an ice cream place on our way in so we went for an ice cream.

My photo only shows half of the building. The other half is a burger/hot dog place. We may have to try it out also.

It is raining right now but the rain is supposed to end during the night and the rest of the time we will be here it is supposed to be dry with highs in the high 50's. Very acceptable weather with the sunshine. Tomorrow we start our sightseeing.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.











Apr 25th - Cleaning Day

Today we did some cleaning and shopping. Everything is pretty much ready for our morning departure. Roll in the slides, stow the electrical, water and sewer connections and we should be ready to move out to the front of the camp where we can hook up the CRV.

Frank, the guy who I worked for while at Mt. Gilead, came by this morning and gave Kathy and I Mt. Gilead hoodies as a token of their appreciation. A nice gesture by the camp. We have had a good time here and the folks at the came seem to think that we "earned our keep" while we were here. Certainly a win/win deal.

Some random photos:
This was some of the "excitement" while Kathy was back in Missouri. Our son Doug was there helping (ramrodding) the demolition phase of Kelsey and Andy's (our granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Doug's daughter) kitchen remodel. The kitchen had been gutted prior to Doug's arrival. The single door you see on the right was a pair of French doors. The door on the left goes into the utility room. There was a big deck attached to this wall.

Note the doubled up floor joists and subfloor that was removed, and my pregnant granddaughter.

 Kitchen enclosed.

Doug is now back in Indy. Andy's Dad, brother and uncle were over today and put up the new drywall. Butch, Andy's brother, can do as fine a job of taping drywall as any professional (don't know who will tape this, Andy did some taping on when we were  there in November and he did a pretty good job, especially considering his experience level with taping drywall.

The is the road from the RV park to the main part of the camp. These deer stood there while I drove slowly by on my way to breakfast.

Amazing what you find when you wander around the camp. The license plate had a 1977 sticker. No head on the engine but this old GMC truck sure looked restoreable. I was told they have another one in a different part of the camp.

These roses climbed a tree beside Drew's driveway. They are far prettier than what the photo suggests.

This rose bush is in his back yard.

The flowers are really coming on at his place.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.