Wild West day 19

We left Oregon Coast RV Resort and headed up the coast of Oregon on Hwy 101. It's a nice scenic drive like Ca. Hwy 1, but not quite as kinky. And it was a fairly clear day so the coast was clear...so to speak, not like the California coast we couldn't see a couple of days ago.

We stopped at a "Sea Lion Cave" tourist trap, but didn't get trapped. I got this photo of the walk down to the cave. While standing there, some old guy asked if I had gone down there. When I told him I had not, he said it was just as well because it smelled like sea lion shit.

We made it all the way to the NW corner of Oregon. We're now camped at Fort Stevens State Park. This is a really nice park with lots of campsites...most with probably 2 dozen kids each...or so it seems. But, they all have crashed now after a day at the beach and a muffled silence has settled over the park...except for that one persistent dog...and buzzing mosquitoes.

Wild West day 18

We arrived at Oregon Coast RV Resort (formerly Surfwood RV Campground) just south of Reedsport in Oregon. I had planned to get a little further up the coast, but fizzled out. The park we stayed in was okay for overnight, but full of old farts like us. I wouldn't recommend it for a "fun" spot unless you are into some kind of geriatric studies.

I set up my Tailgater Dish TV antenna and soon had an audience full of questions, mainly how did it work and how much did it cost. Later as Ditto took me for a walk, a guy came driving up in a pickup pulling a boat. In the back of his truck were 6 or 8 crab traps. But, he didn't have any luck. He had set them out too late, he explained.

Wild West day 17

Hit Crater Lake today.  Man! Is this worth the trip!  The road had a spot or two closed due to mud slides from winter snow melt, so we couldn't go all the way around, but we traveled most of the way. Proceeding on, we found a nice quiet little primitive National Forest campground beside Diamond Lake near Crater Lake in Oregon.  I think the name was Umpqua/Thielsen View Campground. It did not remain quiet for long, however.  Being Friday, it wasn't long before some weekenders moved in across from us and the noise began.

Wild West day 16

Mountain Man RV Park

This park is a nice little quiet park and well outfitted.  Once again, I failed to get a photo here and I don't know why.  I had plenty of time.

We parked backed up to the West Fork of the Illinois River.  The park was layed out in sort of a two part park.  We are at one end where most campers are short timers like us.  The other end is more seasonal and permanent campers.  The park is located on the western fringe of the Redwood forest and has several huge Redwoods in the park.  Ditto and I were walking around the camp road loop when I noticed several big pine cones on the ground...I mean BIG pine cones.  So, I picked one up for a souvenir and just as I did, a guy came driving in a black pickup.  He circled on around the loop and stopped at his campsite just a couple of sites down from the shower house.  Later, the guy came over and said he had noticed me picking up pine cones.  My first thought was perhaps it was against the law.  But then, he asked if I wanted a rock souvenir and that he had some in the back of his truck.  Then my thoughts went to Lucille Ball and The Long Long Trailer.  So, I declined and we continued visiting for awhile with no more mention of souvenirs.  Then just before dark, Ditto and I were checking out the shower house and we walked by the black pickup and the guy was there at his campsite.  He raised the question about collecting rocks again only this time I was standing right by the truck.  He reached in and picked up a pinkish colored rock about the size of large grapefruit and tossed it to me.  I instinctively braced for the heavy rock.  When I caught it, though, it was like a piece of Styrofoam.  He laughed and explained it was pumice, a rock formed from a dust from volcanic action.  It's mostly air.  In fact, it will actually float until it becomes waterlogged.  So, I kept it.  If Lucy had collected pumice, Desi would not have had so much trouble trying to tow their trailer.

Wild West day 15

Richardson's Grove Campground Forgot to take a picture here, too, so the link will have to suffice. The campground was a bit run down, though it was evident they were working to improve it.  However, being a "family campground", their biggest priority was the new "meeting house" where religious oriented meetings were held.  There was a big crowd at their meeting house when we arrived which was interesting because the number of occupied campsites didn't seem to match.  A little later, the meeting broke up and out came mostly young people.  As it turns out, they were mostly locals, not campers, gathered for some church singing and guitar picking. The neighbor on our right was driving (sort of) an old rusty van type motor home.  The guy was a youngish fellow from Australia.  His companion, a young woman from the Los Angeles area.  He had apparently just bought the RV and it wasn't in very good operational condition. In fact, he didn't even have a power cord for it and came over to ask if he could plug into one of our outlets to charge his girlfriend's phone.  They were obviously living on the edge.  Edge of what, I'm not sure.  He had a fun Australian accent.  We charged his girl's phone. Another camper was sitting at a picnic table just across from us and we struck up a conversation.  He was a young fellow, probably mid to lower twenties.  He said he was just hitchhiking around the country and had stopped at this campground.  The campground has a few cabins to rent and he had struck a deal with them if they let him stay in one of their cabins, he'd do handyman work for them.  Guess they didn't rent out the cabins all that often.  Anyway, we discussed the difference in hitchhiking today compared to when I was a young sailor thumbing a ride.

Wild West day 14

Leaving Angels Camp, we headed across the Napa Valley toward the California coast. We spent the night at Doran Regional Park on Bodega Bay. It was WINDY and quite chilly. Welcome to sunny California. Woke up to a heavy coast fog. No wind now, but still chilly. It took a while for the fog to burn off, so we couldn't see a lot of coast as we headed on up Highway 1. Finally, the "coast was clear" and we enjoyed the drive.

Wild West day 13

Yosemite! Golllleeee! I've never been here before and if you haven't either, better get snappin' before it all gets trampled down. My pitiful little camera just cannot do it justice. But, here's a few samples of what you are missing. Here's one of the things I like about our little Era. Parallel parking in a motorhome! The upper falls is an icon most of us expect to see when we see pictures of Yosemite. Unfortunately, it's a trail hike up to see it and we don't do hikes. We did see an interesting man-made wonder...some guy in a 40' motorhome towing a Jeep trying to turn around in a parking lot. He couldn't quite make it past a little car parked in a valid spot, but on the end of the row. 40' motorhomes don't bend around things. No, he didn't hit the car, but he couldn't back up either. At least, not with his Jeep tailing behind. As we left the scene, he was busy unhitching his Jeep. Later, he passed us while we were sitting by the roadside, and yes, his Jeep was in tow. It's probably a good thing their windows were closed because his wife didn't appear too happy. Out the other side on Hwy 120, we hit Hwy 49 and angled up just past New Melones Lake to Angels Camp RV Park. Ditto encountered her first dog park here. She wasn't impressed except by all the different doggie odors EVERYWHERE. But, it was a nice RV park. Of course, it's one I missed taking a photo of.