Today was a day to just be. We spent hours catching up on computer stuff and reading those sites you always say you will read sometime when you have time. We mounted and tried out the various seats on my Segway and decided to keep the air seat. We ordered our mail to be delivered to Springfield, Oregon, where we will have our solar system installed. I finished reading another book. Just the kind of stuff you do on days where you don’t have to be anywhere special.
TTYL,
Linda
We left camp about 10:45 a.m. The sun was out but so was the fog. Weird weather for this Midwesterner.
We didn’t have far to travel today so we didn’t need to take lots of breaks but I thought you might like to see this one. This is called the Devil’s Churn. The waves come into this cut and turn every which way in their attempt to get back out again. If the water is flowing just right, it shoots way high up into the air. Trying to catch one of those big ones on film gave me a better appreciation for surfers trying to catch their big one.
I didn’t take a lot of written notes today because I was thinking about what it would be like to have a recorder with voice recognition software that could turn dictation into a computer document. It would be quite a challenge to do but it might be fun to make a record of everything along the coast relating to travel: all the parks, gas stations, restaurants, motels, etc. with the mile markers interspersed to help you find things. If I published that I think I would call it “Oregon Coast: Inch by Inch”. I’m not sure I could talk fast enough to get it all, though. There’s a lot out here.
We stopped for the night at the B & E Wayside RV Park in Florence, Oregon. That name didn’t make me happy since I read enough detective novels to associate the letters B & E with breaking and entering. It was an interesting park but I don’t think B & E is going to be a problem here.
The park is 95% asphalt. The RV spots are two wide so you can park your car/truck next to your RV. Every spot has a small storage shed in case you need to unload your car/truck before you can use it. Every spot has full hookups. There’s a large recreation building with lots of rooms for things like playing pool or working puzzles or watching TV or reading or having a party. I think the building must have been a house they added on to because the party room has a full kitchen and the bath back there has a tub. There are also restrooms in the front of the building and throughout the park. In the one by us there’s a washer and dryer–one each in the men’s side and one each in the women’s side. We intended to do laundry here but we’ve gotten spoiled; doing it one load at a time no longer appeals to us. So I think we’ll wait another day.
TTYL,
Linda
As soon as we got back into our RV after the anti-sway stuff was installed we could feel a difference. Hopefully, it will be enough of a difference to justify the time and money we spent getting it done. We think we will still have some sway when walking around but not any more wind rocking us to sleep and far less sway in the wind on the highway.
Dave has decided to buy a digital SLR camera. Apparently, he’s been researching this for awhile because he knows exactly what he wants and that Best Buy sells them. So, I sat in the RV researching state parks along the Oregon coast while he went into Best Buy. The camera he came back with is much bigger and heavier than I anticipated. So, we talked once again about how much weight we’ve been adding to the RV and that getting our solar system and water tank upgrade may put us over maximum weight.
Dave’s decided he’d rather have the camera than the piano since he’s finding setting up and taking down the piano to be more of a nuisance than he thought it would be. So, we will be selling the piano. There’s a huge RV gathering in Arizona in January; maybe he’ll be able to find a buyer there. If any of you happen to be along the Oregon/California coast and would like to buy it before then, let us know, please.
In the meantime, we headed west along the Columbia River to the Oregon Coast where we’ll turn south until we need to turn inland again at Florence, Oregon, to get our solar system. That brought us back into the snow zone. It better not!
Then we traveled a stretch of road that felt like the Red Wing, Minnesota area: bluff, road, train, river. When we got up on the bluff looking down at the train it looked like it was Z scale.
We passed a street labeled “Scandinavian Cannery Row.” Do you suppose that’s lutefisk, herring, and sardines?
Then we pulled into Fort Stevens State Park. Our favorite Oregon park. We spent two nights there so I got to have a day hanging out in my pjs while it rained. I like those days. Especially when we have Ritz crackers to munch on. Mmmm.
TTYL,
Linda
I have no idea what possessed Dave when he scheduled four days for a four day trip. Doesn’t he know how slow we travel? For the last four days we got up early, hit the road quickly, drove until sunset, and finally reached Tualatin, Oregon, yesterday for our service appointment this morning.
Interstate freeway riding is boring so I napped a lot. In between here’s some of what I saw and thought.
On day one we left before breakfast then stopped along the way and watched some guys trying to learn to surf while we ate.
At Thornhill-Broom Beach there were lots of RVs and tents right on the beach. I must remember this for future use. Once we get our solar panels, we’ll be able to park places like that without giving up any of our comforts.
I saw a tanker truck of fruit juice. We are not in Minnesota anymore. Back there this would have been a tanker truck of milk. I wonder if Californians would find that idea odd?
That switchback on our right up the hill from us turned out to be southbound traffic instead. I’m not used to having facing traffic be on the wrong side of us but road engineers build whatever makes sense in the mountains.
At Vista del Lago there is a Water Education Center. I’d like to stop there sometime but we can’t spare the time to do so today.
Near Gorman there is a rest area with fresh water and a dump. We need to start noticing those if we are going to do much boondocking.
We stopped at a Subway inside a TA truck stop but they had no tables. It’s a good thing we bring our own.
The highway signs say Sacramento and San Franciso are a mile apart. Sometimes one is listed first then the other one is. It feels to me like kids arguing. “I’m bigger.” But, I’m more important.” “I get more visitors.” “But, yours are just tourists, mine are politicians.” “You think that’s better?!”
The tour bus that just went by said USASIA on it. Guess we know who their market is.
We just passed a feedlot. Big feedlot. Huge feedlot. Upwind of us. Dad would take a big whiff and say, “Ah, fresh country air.” He thinks that’s funny.
I just saw a bunch of power poles take off cross country. Gone are the days when you could predict what the road ahead would do by checking out the power poles.
When driving the freeway, it becomes more important to get out and walk at rest areas. No museums to do that in on this trip.
We drove behind a hill about 4:30 p.m. and instantly went from needing a visor plus sunglasses to needing to remove both. I wear my tennis type visor inside when the sun gets too low for the vehicle visor to do the job. I’m sure I look funny wearing it sideways but that’s better than sunburning my ear.
We stopped for the night at San Luis RV Resort in Santa Nella, California.
Our attempt to get away early on day two was foiled by a broken shelf support. Dave emptied the big cupboard over the sink, fixed the shelf, and put everything back differently so I can’t find anything anymore. Keeps life interesting.
Alongside the road are aqueducts–really just big canals. Nothing like the Roman aqueducts.
The farm beside the highway is advertising mandarins and lemons. More evidence we are a long way from Minnesota.
California and Oregon both require you have tire chains available when traveling through the mountains at this time of year. So we stopped at Les Schwab Tire in Sacramento and bought some. More weight to carry.
We had lunch at Nick’s Diner on Historic Route 40. Dave says that’s the same road known as the Lincoln Highway back in Illinois. I wonder how much interesting stuff it has along it?
You don’t necessarily need a CB to figure out what the truckers are up to. When all the semis are two lanes left you can bet the two right lanes are going to exit somewhere soon. Or be under construction. Whatever reason they are over there is likely to be a good one so now we move over when they do.
I saw a sign saying, “Sheriff Detention Center”. I guess that’s in case they need to detain the sheriff. I wonder what he did?
We passed a bunch of rice paddies. Are we still in California? I wonder if Viet Nam vets passing here have flashbacks? I don’t think I want to be here when they start seeing everyone as enemy.
There’s a field of fences. Do the grow them here? Maybe they are going to plant grapes on them. Or…?
This night was at Corning RV Park. Good Sam rate of $22 for full hookups.
Today we drove by Richfield, California–shades of the past! Richfield, Minnesota, is where Dave spent his early childhood years along with many other boomers whose parents took advantage of the post war housing boom there. Some of those boomers are moving back now having figured out these small houses are cheaper to heat than McMansions and, with the kids gone, they are plenty big enough. They were big enough before but we were told growing kids need lots of space.
Next to some lush landscaping was a sign saying, “Using reclaimed water.” That says several things about conditions around here.
In Anderson, California, we stopped at the welcome center to get a highway map. Yes, we are just about to leave California but we’ll be coming back in a couple of weeks. This map lists all the parks along the coast highway which should come in handy for our southbound trip next month.
We are now passing through the Shasta Mountains. The leaves on the trees here now look like early October in Minnesota.
We stopped at Vista Point to take pictures of Mount Shasta. I’m glad we don’t have to cross it. Dave says it’s 14,000 feet and we only have to go to 4,000.
We stopped in Yreka at KFC for lunch. Yes, that’s the way they spell Eureka here.
We got up high enough to be driving through the clouds. In spite of the way that sounds, it is NOT fun. Visibility is low enough to be scary.
We finally drove across the border into Oregon on a–surprise–cloudy day.
We spent the night at Joe Creek Waterfalls RV Resort in Grant’s Pass. If you ever stop here, be sure to read the funny story on the back of their brochure.
We woke up this morning to discover we had slept in the clouds last night. Whoever decided to advertise mattresses as like sleeping on a cloud had never done it. They are cold and wet.
I took another one of those water saving early morning showers today. Is it OK that I am getting used to cold showers?
My Coffee Rich was not completely thawed this morning. Crunchy milk on my cereal is not my favorite.
About 9:15 this morning the sun finally came over the mountain and it was like someone turned on the overhead light. From dark to bright instantly.
A place selling ranch fencing had a sign saying, “vinyl is final.” I guess if you are trying to keep stock corralled biodegradable fencing is not so good.
Coyote Jack’s Rawhide Dancehall make me wonder what type of dancing they do that makes their hides raw?
The next sign said:
State Police
DMV – Camping
I guess that would be a really safe place to camp as long as you and your vehicle are in compliance with all current laws.
A billboard asked, “Would your house survive a wildfire?” To which I confidently replied. “Yes, because we would drive ours out of there.”
Last night we stayed at the RV Park of Portland, in Tualatin, Oregon. For a good giggle, check out Freddy Flintlock on their website at http://www.rvparkofportland.com/.
So now we are at Upscale Auto, aka the Sprinter Store, in Tualatin getting an anti-sway bar and adjustable shocks installed. We got up at 6:20 a.m. since the shop opens at 7:00 a.m. It’s now not quite 10:30 and they say we’ll be done in about a half hour. So maybe all that food I loaded into my bag before we came in won’t be necessary.
TTYL,
Linda
As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve had some problems with timing our stops. Today’s third stop was for lunch so I didn’t want to get on the road too soon after breakfast because I knew Dave wouldn’t stop too early for lunch. So I talked him into installing the new Segway seat. Of course the battery has been discharging while sitting back there on it’s hitch mount, so now it needed to be plugged in awhile before I could test the seat. By then we were both antsy to get on the road so the seat didn’t get much of a test. We’ll have to do that sometime when we are parked for a day or two. Now, at 11:40 a.m. we need to get back on Route 66 and see how long today’s events take.
On the way to our first stop I saw a Stanley Steemer truck advertising air duct cleaning. Back in Minneapolis, Stanley Steemer was our carpet cleaning company. Maybe here, where there’s not all that winter muck to clean up, they need something else to do.
In Monrovia, California, we stopped at the Aztec Hotel. Interesting decor, huh? It’s called pre-Columbian and it was built in 1925.
Then we tried to stop in Arcadia, California, for pictures of the Santa Anita Racetrack’s 1930s architecture but there are few places it is possible to stop and none of them are good ones so you have to settle for these pictures until you can go see it for yourselves.
Then we drove down Colorado Boulevard singing the few words we could remember of “Little Old Lady from Pasadena.”
In South Pasadena, we ate lunch at the Fair Oaks Pharmacy. This old fashioned drug store still has a “classic” soda fountain and what I’ve always known as “ice cream tables and chairs.” The food was good but the staff was very disorganized. A one hour parking limit should be enough for lunch, right? It wasn’t but we didn’t get a ticket. Also, note that they still sell the item in the second sign. I haven’t seen such a thing since I was a young bride back in the 1960s.
Here’s LA’s version of a muffler man type statue: chicken boy.
3:30 p.m. appears to be the wrong time of day for sightseeing in LA. Traffic is thick and slow. But, maybe there is no right time of day here?
We drove by the Formosa Cafe but there was no place to stop except blocking driveways or red curbs and we’ve already been waved on by one traffic control officer today. Their sign was backlit by the sun so it wouldn’t photograph well anyway. I’d like to have gone inside to see some of the photos of famous people but it really was getting late so we kept heading towards the beach.
Dave stuck his head out the side window along the way to get this picture of the Hollywood sign. We’ll have to came back someday to get a better one.
We skipped the Peterson Automotive Museum. If we’re lucky they’ll still be showing “From Autocamps to Airstreams: The Early Road to Vacationland” next time we are in town. It would be a perfect ending to a Route 66 tour, don’t you think?
The ocean turned out to be a lot further down Santa Monica Boulevard than I expected and with all that traffic the sun set just before we got there so this pictue through the car window was the best I could do today. Palisades Park and the Santa Monica Pier will also have to wait for another day. They aren’t officially part of Route 66, they just seemed like a perfect place to end this trip.
It was full dark by the time we pulled into Malibu Beach RV Park so we said a mountain view instead of an ocean view would be fine. It’s not like we could see either one anyway. Tomorrow is another day but for now we are done traveling Route 66. I hope you enjoyed our trip.
The end.
TTYL,
Linda
