Hello Oregon

Left Corning, California, yesterday morning. It was Sunday and there was a riod run heading south all morning with hundreds of beautiful cars, so that was cool. Another hot day, around 30 C all the way. It was cooler here this morning at 18 C, and hundreds of frogs were singing all night. We have been in the desert for a month so it was nice to hear them again!

Heading up to Tumwater, Washington, for a night to stock up on groceries before getting back into BC. Hopefully that will help ease the sticker shock of food prices once we get home and severe depression will be avoided this time :(

BTW, some of these blog posts are done on the road via my iPhone and T-Mobile WiFi Hotspot, which loads photos in random order. So if you don't see a comment under each pic, check back later as I will ad them from my laptop when I have time.

 

Above:  A couple of Bandidos passed by

Above:  Most of the vintage cars were heading south on a rod run towards Corning, CA; however, this guy passed us heading north

Oregon

Coming in on I-5, through Portland.

Junction City, Oregon (again)

We pulled into Junction City at 5:00 p.m. after travelling through the wide valley of the I-5, noting how much farmland there really is in California.  It was cloudy when we got here.  First observation upon alighting from the truck:  Put on long pants and a jacket cuz you ain't in Kansas anymore, amigos!  It felt fricking damp, chilly, and downright COLD.  Waaaahhh.  Yes, I'm whining again, get used to it.

On the upside, we were parked beside a drainage area, and the happy little frogs serenaded us all night long.  This brought a question to my mind that I hadn't thought of before:  When do frogs sleep?  They stop singing at daybreak, but then they have to catch bugs during the day, right?  So maybe they just take a lot of naps during the day.  I am unclear on this...  Perhaps a government research grant is in order for me and a few close friends.

Anyway, we're here for a few days getting warranty work done on the RV.  Then we'll probably head over to Long Beach in Washington again, since it's a great beach for the dogs to romp on.  It's supposed to be pouring rain everywhere for Easter (but it beats the snow that we see forecast for the Interior), and then we'll have to pop back into Canada at the end of the month. 

Clearly, we are missing Texas and warm weather.  Hopefully it will be warm soon where we are heading, but all bets are off since we still have the May long weekend to contend with, which is always exceptionally cold and dismal in the home valley.  Sigh ...

Brookings, Fortuna, Willits

Brookings is in the "banana belt" of Oregon, apparently, and we really felt a change in temperature when we got there.  It was a balmy steady 13 degrees.  The Coast Guard was practicing out in the giant breakers about 50 feet from the beach in the morning.  They had the type of boats that can roll over and completely right themselves after being tumbled around in the huge waves.  It was awesome to see them doing their maneuvers right in front of us.

We spent the next day traveling the Redwood Highway to Fortuna, California, and stayed a couple of nights there.  The town looks like it must have looked at least 50 years ago, with lots of old buildings and wonderful old houses.  I think the weather is going to stay warm from now on, although it's been damp so far.  There were lots of happy tree frogs in the campground, and a great horned owl came and hooted most of the two nights we were there.

We're now in Willits and will be going to Sacramento in a couple of days, then down to the Desert Springs area for Christmastime.  The band of gypsys are all doing well and are not missing the snow and cold one little bit!

Winchester Bay

We arrived in Winchester Bay on the Oregon coast yesterday afternoon.  This area has a lot of sand dunes and lighthouses every few miles.  The RV park we are in is on the Umpqua River, about a mile from where it meets the Pacific Ocean.  We headed down to the ocean this afternoon and saw our first surfer.  We're heading down to Brookings tomorrow, which is not far from the California border and about 3 1/2 hours from here.

We have been meeting lots of people who come over and want to know about Nachelnik.  The repeated comments about him always include the word "magnificent."  We did come across one guy who knew about the breed, though.  He came over when we were walking the dogs at a truck stop.  It was after dark and he stopped about 50 feet away, smoking and looking at him.

Then he yelled with a thick accent:  "Is that a sheepdog?"

I replied, "Yes, it's a sheepdog."

"Ovcharka, from Russia," he said.

"Yes -- how do you know?  Where are YOU from?"

"From Russia!" he proclaimed, as if I should have known that.

Back in JC Again

After spending 8 great days on the beach at Seal Rock, we are in Junction City for a couple of days to get the window repair completed. Grocery prices are up and down compared to Kamloops, with chicken breasts about $4/kg, but fresh strawberries about the same as Kamloops (go figure). There is also no sales tax in this state. They do give deposit refunds on cans and bottles but instead of the good old BC bottle depots, there are state-of-the-art electronic return rooms at grocery stores, Walmarts, etc., where you feed them into slots in the wall. Haven't actually tried this yet; perhaps tomorrow while doing the laundry. Sometimes it's hard to deal with all this excitement, heh, heh...

Snow!

We had snow last night at Seal Cove, Oregon!  This is a rare occurrence so it's cool that we are here to see it!  The seals were swimming right up to the beach this morning to have a look at it. There are also brown pelicans hanging out here.  Apparently it looks like fewer are making the trip down to Mexico and breeding colonies are increasing in Oregon.  They may be rethinking that strategy this morning!

Seal Rock, Oregon

November 20, 2010:  Heading back to the coast this morning to Seal Rock via Hwy. 126.  Weather should be cloudy and rainy for the next few days with perfect storm-watching conditions!

Junction City, Oregon

Currently in Junction City, Oregon.  Cloudy and rain, with hail around noon, about 7 degrees Celcius.

This town has a train track down the middle of what is now a residential street, and the trains barrel through at a good clip.  There's enough room on each side of the tracks for a smaller vehicle to park wedged up against the sidewalk.  Must be quite the rush to have the train appear in your rear view mirror, especially at night, while driving down the road.