Still in Oregon

Our entry into Newport was by a very impressive bridge, like a mini Sydney Harbour Bridge. Found our way to Wal-Mart for our overnight stay. Had a bad night as my cold was no better. Sightseeing today. Had a tour of the original lighthouse in the area, it only had a short life from 1871 to 1874, after which a new one was built in a new location a few kms along the coast. The lighthouse is now run by volunteers, who do a wonderful job of maintaining this piece of heritage. The old wharf area is just what it name implies, with lots of shops, restaurants and the pungent smell of fish from the fishing fleet area. Wandered around looking at some of the art, souvenirs, kitchen accessories, eating & ice-cream shops, had a coffee on the wharf, then found the library for wifi. Back to Wal-Mart for the night and hopefully an early start tomorrow.
Visited Aquila Head Lighthouse (the one that replaced the one we visited the previous day). There is a large interpretive centre to view here, and from here we walked to the lighthouse and back (you can drive if you so desire) Lots of fur seals, birds and wildflowers, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, beautiful day, first day of sunshine for a while. After leaving this area we continued to follow the spectacular coast line, with houses build right on the cliff face in some places. At Lincoln City we visited the outlet stores centre, was tempted to buy a new camera here, but remembered the trouble I had with my current one and needed to be repaired under warranty, much easier to do back home !!. The Casino at Lincoln City once again had an RV area, not as good as the Florence Casino, but the price was right, there were quite a number already here, so squeezed in between the larger ones, and had a better night’s sleep than we expected.
We left the101 Hwy at Pacific City to go to Sandlake and do the scenic drive around Three Capes. On the way around we stopped at Andersons view point and spoke to a young fellow who had just push biked up the huge hill and many more before. He had started in Astoria (NW tip of Oregon) and was cycling to his home in Kentucky, good luck to him!!!. We continued the drive to Tillamook along the ocean. Went looking for a night spot out along hwy 6, no luck so headed back into town and found a spot between an old abandoned service station and a lumber yard, even had internet. Started raining during the night, and it continued all the following day. We tried to do a tour of the Tillamook cheese factory, but the day was too miserable for this, so went to Fred Myers, then back to our o/n spot. Next day the weather had improved a little, so we did the Tillamook factory tour, it is very much automated and you do not see a great deal, however they have spent a huge amount of money on the establishment, it is now fully automated. We had morning tea at Garibaldi overlooking the estuary, yet another local weekend market happening here.Continuing along the coast we drove through Cannon Beach, which looked like a real yuppie type beach area, it was crowded, perhaps because it was also Father’s day. At Seaside there was an old car display, once again very busy. We made our way to Astoria, took a wrong turn and were at end of the town in a quiet part. Saw a potential overnight spot so went to the hardware shop which was the closest place open and asked the lady if she thought that it would be ok to park there overnight, she said that she could not give me permission, but offered to ring the owner and ask, no reply! Another chap in the shop said “you can stay behind my shop if you like” there is power and water and fairly quiet. We followed him, and he showed us where to set up. It turned out his shop was an auto repair shop, as it was Saturday night, we decided to stay until Monday and get him to look at our van, which had a small exhaust leak around the manifold, it was more annoying than a problem. We had four mechanics look at it and all said that they wouldn’t bother, plus it appeared to be a bigger job than they were prepared to tackle. It was a great week end, having power, TV, computer. On Monday he diagnosed the problem, but was unable to work on it for eight days, this would give us the opportunity to drive to the Columbia Gorge area and return for the work to be carried out.

Our adventure continues....

Up early and left the Safeway car park and drove back into the town, found a nice car park near the river to have breakfast, which we had to vacate before 11.00am as it was market day in the town and the car park was used for the market. Walked the town trying to find the post office, this wasn’t as easy as you may think, however it did give us a chance to look at the town perhaps more than we would have. We found it to be a very nice place with beautiful parklands. We then visited the old mill area, which in contrast to the older look of the town, is mainly new, full of trendy shops and eating areas built around a small section of the old mill. Driving to the mill area was a bit tricky, we stopped and asked a lady for directions, she said” if you keep turning left you will get there”, we followed her directions continuing to turn left, until the road seemed to be very narrow, this is when we discovered we were driving along a walkway, have you ever tried to turn around on a walkway ??? That was one turn left she forgot to mention that we should not have taken. After walking around for a while we left the Bend area and drove back into the forests, had lunch in a National Forest with Mt Bachelor as a back drop. Beautiful drive once again until we found a fishing campsite by a lake. Snow covered mountains pines etc etc….. the only downside was that it started raining, gave us the opportunity to watch a great movie “ Howards Way”. Up early, still raining occasionally but cleared long enough to see the snow, unfortunately I was beginning to catch a cold. Decided to stay and see what happened with the weather, experimenting with the iPod, until we ran out of power. Although the clouds were low we thought we would start the drive to the coast, it was just so cold here. Another superb drive, as we descended from the mountains through the Willamette Pass we drove past more large lakes and pines. It warmed up a little as we descended. Had a little trouble crossing Eugene to get to Wal-Mart for the night, missed a few turns on the freeway but eventually made it. In the morning we had to make our obligatory visit to Wal-Mart (can’t help ourselves). McDonalds didn’t have wifi, but found another site at a gym (guess it is so you can work out while on the Iphone) ,which gave us the chance do what we had to. It was now off to the coast and Florence, on the way there we came across another covered bridge, where we had afternoon tea, then went for a walk along the river and came across the perfect place to spend the night , Cold not improving, Michele cooked a hot dinner. Florence perhaps tomorrow. Slept in this morning, as cold is worse, leaving for Florence after morning tea which we had on the other side of the river, just so many great places to stop at. There is a casino just out of town that has a dedicated RV parking area, there would have been 20 to 30 RVs there, we went into town for a few items and wifi, then back to the casino for the night. Next day went back to town to do the laundry, discovered it was Flag Day in the US. Down in the old town there was a market with the usual things, plus live music, after wandering around old town we went back to the casino with the intensions of an early start the next morning. Left the casino at 9.50, cold no better however Michele is just about over hers. Drove along the coast and had breakfast at the Sea Lion centre. There were a lot of seals in the water and basking on the rocks, plus the awful odor that comes with them! Perused the gift shop, and then drove on to the historic Cape Creek Bridge, with a view of Heceta Head’s lighthouse from the beach, you can see many more sea lions from the view points to the north of the Sea lion centre. Next we visited Cape Perpetua National Forest and the information centre. Captain Cook was in this area must have been just prior to him dropping into Australia in 1776. We drove past many beautiful beaches, most with pines on the cliffs overlooking the ocean with large rocks in the water, beautiful scenery. The Oregon coast is promoted as a cycling area and you see many cyclists rising to the challenge The next edition we will continue our drive along the coast to Newport.

More of Oregan

We found that Roseburg, being such a large centre, it was easier to book into our favorite town camp site, Wal-Mart although they had no overnight stay signs up, after asking permission we were given the ok. Probably one of the nicest car parks we have stayed in, lots of trees and greenery. Next morning more shopping, including buying gas, we bought this at Albertsons and got 20cents a gallon off, using our shopping card. Route 99 took us to the small town of Sutherlin. Another great find was another covered bridge on the 138 just out of Sutherlin called Rochester Bridge, and venturing further down the river we found a terrific spot to spend the night on BLM land. High up on a bank of the river while on the other side was a sheer mountain side and we were surrounded by trees, the only such area for many miles. The idyllic setting was soiled early next morning by a road worker setting out his warning flags for road works, once again, one up everyone up. Drove on though more fabulous scenery along the fast flowing river, stopped for breakfast at another river overlook. Had a leisurely three hour breakfast, however then it was time to move further upstream as the computer had run out of power. Absolutely stunning country. Our drive took us through Kellogg and Elkton, which has a terrific looking RV park on the river, the best we have seen! On to Drain for lunch where we found another covered bridge at the town park, it had water, and as a lot of local town parks have, and power points on most of the poles in the pavilion; the library also adjoined the park with wifi seemed like an ideal spot to spend the night. To the annoyance of a few of the local juveniles who seemed to want to make our stay uncomfortable, luckily the rain spoiled their fun We left next morning to drive to Scott and Jan’s home in Santa Clara, near Eugene. Another fabulous drive through heavily forested hills, very tropical looking in sections, and as usual avoiding the freeways as much as possible although we had to endure about five miles of it. Found a super Wal-Mart for breakfast, which turned out to be yet another tour of Wal-Mart as well! We then discovered the Beltline of Eugene, a road system which seems to loop around the city, we almost made it to Scott and Jan’s front door but the numbering system was a little hard to work out, they were hidden down the back of a cul-de-sac within a Cul-de-sac. We had to telephone them and Jan came to our rescue and directed us to their house. What a great couple, so much in common, Scott with his music collection of Brubeck to Baroque and more, DVD collection and the fastest internet that I have ever seen, also enjoyed great meals with them .My favorites was their special sweet containing the ingredients of Nutella and Marshmallows. Viewed Scott’s terrific audio visual of one of their canal boat trips in England. They took us on a tour of Eugene, which is the third largest city in Oregon and the home of the Oregon University. Most impressive is their library, three stories with rooms packed with not only books but computers, DVD’s music cds etc. We visited Hendricks Park with hundreds of rhododendrons on display, also the rose garden which was in full bloom, while downtown he took us to the Apple store and introduced me to the iPod touch, say no more! After three very busy days it was time to continue our adventures further afield. Once again the friendliness and hospitality of the Americans we have met has been overwhelming and we hope we can continue our friendship long after we leave and go home.
We decided to tour the Cascade area while we were in the vicinity, this took us along the McKenzie Valley following the McKenzie River. Visited a fish hatchery and saw the first of the Sturgeon fish, huge prehistoric looking fish although we were to see a larger one latter. Found another covered bridge, then detoured off to McKenzie Reservoir, this had a massive dam wall that we drove over. We then found a night spot in the national Forest.
Next we visited the Hoodoo ski area, most of which was closed for what looked like a car gymkhana, so continued towards the Big Lake, this was snowed out. Decided to have lunch there and took more photos of Mt Washington, snow capped with clouds resting on its peak, a great sight! Drove through Deschutes National Forest and called into a lake for afternoon tea, huge lake like we are used to seeing in the movies, pine tree lined and a resort built there, however still leaving enough space for public use, magic setting. Traffic was quite heavy both directions. Following Scotts suggestion we went and had a look at Minuet Springs (also called head of the river) water flows out of the ground, and within a few feet there is a large fast flowing river, amazing !!.From here you have a great view of the snow covered Mt Jefferson. Just out of Sisters we drove down a National Forrest developmental road and found yet another fantastic night spot amongst the pines. The following morning couldn’t sleep so got up about 6.30 and did some work on the newsletter. Drove on to Sisters, a well cared for town, with a western theme. While we were there, a full sized what looked like a bronze statue of a rearing horse on a trailer came down the main street, we watched it being installed at the eastern end of the town. Stayed overnight in the forest on the eastern side of the town. I plotted the GPS to take us directly to Safeway’s in Bend, this was the first time it failed to guide us correctly. (it has happened in the past but that had been our fault) I find addresses buy using the telephone number of where we want to go, then the GPS finds the address, unfortunately it directed us to a National Park, the other side of Bend, very nice, but not exactly where we wanted to be. We had lunch there and then made our way back, this time I searched by name and was directed correctly. While we were doing our shopping, it began to rain, by the time we returned to our van the rain had turned to hail, hail like we have never experienced, it was so hard and noisy on our metal roof. You would think that it was snow if not for the noise, it packed up on the surrounding roofs and slid off in great sheets, the locals said there was three inches in an hour. Cars were making furrows at least as deep as their tyres. The weather didn’t look as though it would improve in the near future, so we decided to stay the night in the car park. Starbucks was adjoining and we were able to watch some streaming TV episodes by using their WIFI, got to love this country!!!!

Oregan

We finally made it in to Oregon, our entry was along the 199 highway, a very scenic drive through pine lined roads and lush green everywhere. Our first stop was Cave Junction, this gave us the opportunity to find a laundromat and catch up with the washing, a great laundromat which had free wifi!. Our overnight spot was on BLM land right on the Illinois River. It was such a beautiful spot we decided to stay two days. With so much water and fairly easy to get, we gave the van a wash and Michele did all her hand washing. The water in the buckets was so clear you would have thought that it had come from a city water supply. Grants Pass was our next destination, one the largest centres we had seen in a while, so did a bit of shopping then drove on the 238. This is one of the many scenic drives in Oregon and it took us through the Appleyard Valley, with an overnight stay at the Appleyard Dam. Fantastic setting with snow covered peaks as a background. We were woken early next morning by a school bus as the driver left his motor running, probably figured that if he was up, everyone else should be also. After breakfast on the drive back to the highway we came across our first Oregon covered Bridge. This one was built in 1917; there were more than 300 covered bridges in the 1930, now there are only about 50 of them left. They are very unique for us as we do not have these types of structures in Australia. Next we visited Jacksonville, a wonderfully preserved town in which most of the buildings were built in the 1850’s, old red brick, two storey structures. We were informed that they have used the town as it is, for a period movie sets, just bring in some soil to cover the roads, a really nice town. After lunch we drove along the 62(scenic road) to White City and then Prospect. This is a beautiful drive through mountains and pines and magnificent waterfalls along the way. For our morning constitutional we walked the trail between two waterfalls and the raging river connecting them. Crater Lake was an exceptional sight, although only one mile of the 32 mile rim drive was open, the views across the bluest of blue water with the snow on the mountains behind was magnificent. The snow that had been cleared around the resort buildings was at least 2 meters high in places. The snow through the pines on the drive in and out was also quite thick, it was a highlight of the drive through the alpine region; we stayed here all day until about 4.00, and then found a great place to park overnight in the National Forest on the way out.Next day we made our way from the 62 and onto the 230, many National Forest campsites along the way, we had morning tea at Rogue Gorge. I think the name says it all, complete with fabulous and continuous waterfalls. Lunch at Diamond Lake, a huge recreational lake with at least 30 boats on the water and with a 8363 foot snow covered mountain as a backdrop, made for another postcard setting. The drive continued with several waterfalls along the way including Clearwater, Whitehorse and Watsons Falls which involved a reasonable hike up the hill, but the reward was a spectacular 272 waterfall (one of the tallest in Oregon). We spent the night in the Toketee Falls campground, which was massive, and only had a couple of other people camped there. Up bright and early for an early start, left at 2.45 pm. We weren’t able to walk to these falls as the trail was damaged in 2006 and has not been repaired yet. Called in to many more campsites along the river to look at and watch the river race by, some of these campsites I think would be difficult to sleep at due to the noise of the wild river rushing down the gully which of course made a wonderful setting. We were lucky enough to come across another top place to park over night in the Forest before discovering the Fall Creek Falls the next morning. The walk to the falls was two miles return, it was a great walk through thick forests and along the river, at times fairly steep going, on the way you have to pass through a narrow slot of volcanic rock probably 100ft long. At the top a small fall drops into a larger fall. We had lunch at Colliding Rivers and watched the rivers merge at great speed. We then drove towards Peel to see another covered bridge. The signage leaves a bit to be desired, however we eventually found it and then made our way to Roseberg via Dixonville, we now had left the amazing country and entered suburbia.

San Francisco to Oregon

After a fairly quick visit to San Francisco we left via the Golden Gate Bridge, it was far easier to leave from where we stayed overnight than had been our arrival to the city. The fog level was down to a few hundred feet showing only about half of the height of the bridge and a few cars in front of us, it made for a rather strange crossing. We left the 101 and joined the one as soon as possible, once again we were climbing fairly tall hills on winding roads, hugging the coast, unfortunately because of the dense fog we didn’t have the opportunity to see the spectacular views at their best, however what we could see was very impressive. The drives for the rest of the day took us inland slightly before returning to the coast at Bodega Bay, where we spent the night in a State forest Camp. The following day we encountered a lot of road works, which on the twisty narrow roads presented some challenges, they actually had an escort vehicle to lead you to the end of the road works. We stopped for breakfast on a cliff overlook with lovely valley and river views below. The rest of the day the drive followed the rugged coast through beautiful pine forests and small towns right on the coast. Went back into Mendocino again, which is a very quaint town with many well preserved 19th century buildings and houses, although the first time we visited it, all the buildings were white, they have introduced colour into the town which for me has spoiled it a little. This is where the TV series Murder She Wrote was filmed, continuing on the murder theme, we had to buy some gas, the price was $4.09 per gallon, prior to this the highest price we had paid was $2,79 say no more. We left Highway one at Fort Bragg and took the very scenic drive towards Willits through the mountains and the first of the redwood forests, (tallest trees in the world) spectacular sight. We found a nice place to park overnight amongst the tall trees. The following day we rejoined the 101 and drove through more forests. As we approached the coast, and Fortuna, it began to become built up, and finding a place to park overnight became a little more challenging, we parked in a car park at the rear of a Chinese restaurant, they were happy for us to stay there, in return we enjoyed a meal at a cost of $14.90, and had enough left over for the next evening, (cheaper than the California state camp site at $25.00 per night). Next morning had a quick walk around the town, including their local town park which we walked around the perimeter. On to Eureka, a fairly large town where we picked up AAA maps etc. Found another great overnighter on the old highway, high up on a hill and in a lush tropical setting overlooking a lake, the new highway (far enough away as to not to hear it) and the ocean as a backdrop. Through the valley at sunset we witnessed an amazing sight, the sun turned bright red lighting up the whole area to a really nice glow, truly a beautiful sunset, the sun was so bright and coming straight at us I couldn’t do justice with the camera. The following day we drove through more redwood forests, stopped to watch Elk grazing in the paddocks alongside the road. We had another pea soup fog for many miles driving through the mountains before reaching Crescent City. Overnighted at the local big W RV park, they have signs saying that it is not permitted , however they gave permission once asked, several other RVs were there also. This was our last night in California as tomorrow we will drive along the scenic drive into Oregon.
Till next time Brian & Michele

Up the Californian Coast to San Francisco

After the” Toyota Southern Californian Rally” in Riverside at Bobs, we spent a couple of day’s recuperating then travelled across country to Lancaster. Here we enjoyed the hospitality of Jess & Lilian, they showed us around their area including Black Bird Park (home of the stealth bomber). Once again we are absolutely amazed at the generosity and friendliness of the people we meet on our travels. It is my intention this year to try and reduce the length of our reports, so I will just say we thoroughly enjoyed our stay with them and look forward to seeing them again. Our journey continued towards Santa Paula through the mountains passing through Santa Clarita. We spent two nights in Santa Paula, this is where we purchased our motorhome last year, and by chance we were at McDonalds doing our wifi bit and inside was the lady we purchased our motorhome from. When she came out with her group it was a like old home week! We continued through the mountains visiting the town of Ojai, a really interesting and nice looking town with a lot of Mexican/Spanish type architecture, continuing through the mountains we visited Lake Casitas. After arriving at the coast at Carpentaria, we decided to look for a night spot. Discovered a five star spot on a dead end road, hidden by shrubbery and near a cliff overlooking the ocean! It seemed perfect. Wrong! A police car rolled up and said we could not park overnight on public land, his eyes were darting around trying to determine exactly where we were parked as we were half on the road and off the road on a track. Looking at his belt which looked like a mobile weapons of mass destruction which had no gaps left to allow for further additions, we decided not to argue and follow his direction to a local state park. It is the first time ever we have been moved on by a law officer in any country.
Next day we visited Santa Barbara, really interesting architecture with the main street, called State St and quite long, the shops all occupied and well cared for; I had to wonder whether it was the fact they did not have a Wal-Mart in the town that help to keep it in its original state. Walked to the end of Stearns Pier and noticed that the Pelicans are quite different to ours in Australia.
Spoke to a fellow motor homer who pointed us to a place to park overnight, great location central and near the beach. Next day we visited the Mission, Santa Barbra founded in 1786 and a drive up the coast. There are so many Australian gum trees over here that you could expect a Kangaroo to hop out at any time.
Our next night was at Lompoc, where we lucky enough to have wifi. It was then across to the coast and Hwy one. Drove through the pretty towns of Pismo Beach, Moro Bay (where the fog seems to roll in each day) and Avila Beach - a great little fishing boat harbor where they allow overnight stays for $12 which considering what the Californian State Parks charge, makes it quite reasonable.
The drive along Highway one north hugs the winding coast which is quite narrow and for our van fairly steep inclines. It took us through the Big Sur, this did not strike me to the extent that I thought it would, maybe we had our expectations built up over a period of time. It was still rather nice but the roads leading to and from it probably had more effect, the only problem with the drive were the other drivers who seemed to consider the drive as more of a time trial than one of scenic splender.
We overnighted at Seaside to continue the drive along the coast to San Francisco. It was Sunday and all the bays along the coast were filled with people, all the car parks were full, and the stream of traffic went bumper to bumper for a guess about twenty miles on tight windy cliff roads, very scenic but very busy.
Made it into San Francisco eventually, we made one mistake leaving the freeway, which took us onto another freeway etc. Finished up near the wharf area, not the part we wanted to be in but in an area where they were getting ready for a baseball match which increased the traffic situation. We had ticket scalpers, police directing traffic, roads closed due to construction all good fun on a summers evening. We eventually made it to our destination in the wharf area where parking was at a premium, we were lucky enough to find a spot and joined the thousands looking. We had an ice-cream at Ghirardelli’s and struck up a conversation with another couple at our table who told us that during the day there had been a run with about seventy thousand people maybe I heard the number incorrectly but I am sure there must have been that many, also it was one of the hottest days of the season, so more people were out and about. A fantastic city.

Aussies Arrive April 2009 - We're Back.....

We have been in the US for almost a week now, and have been at Bobs in Riverside for this period. Bob picked us up from LAX after the long nonstop flight from Sydney. We had a 1.20 hour changeover from Perth to Sydney so it made for an extra long flight(two sunrises).
By the time we settled back into our RV, gave it a wash etc it was time for the great southern Californian Rally. I have included the write up on it, it doesn’t mention it there but it was all free through the generosity of Bob our host. Since the Rally we have been doing maintenance to the RV in preparation for our trip.
We will leave tomorrow to commence our journey up the West coast.
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Review of the Rally written by Bob:

The 2nd Annual Toyota Motorhome and Aussie Walkabout BBQ seems to have been a resounding success. At one point we had at least 17 Motorhomes (Counting two of my own of course) squeezed in to our impromptu RV Park and registered about 37 guests, not counting at least 6 of the four legged kind. Attendees came from as far as San Jose (Linda S.) to the north, San Diego to the south, and as close as a neighbor who lives but three blocks away.

Brian and Michele Menzies entertained many with stories about their travels across Australia and their first two trips to America, as well as future plans that will take them to Alaska.

Food was plentiful and shared for both lunch and dinner BBQ's, and it didn't appear that anyone lacked finding enough variety, from tube steaks to lumpiang Shanghi, to try. In addition, the many donations of "Stella" and other fine beverages assured that thirsts were well quenched.

The tech sessions generated spirited discussions on electrical systems with, as it turned out, an in depth exploration of workings of the battery isolator.

In the hands on sessions that followed, at least three Battery Isolator problems were repaired or, at least needed repairs identified, and numerous lessons were shared on How-To get everything working in one's RV.

Special thanks go to Richardson's RV, (with several locations in SoCal), for the new RV accessory catalogs for every attendee, with substantial discounts offered, and also for a fine selection of Door Prizes that they contributed.

The evening showing of "Australia" keep a large group's attention, and the fire circle under the trees kept some of the non-movie watchers warm and talkative well into the night.

On Sunday morning everyone crowded into the house to enjoy the breakfast that Rob and Karen prepared and to share yet seemingly never-ending stories about motorhomes and, of course, people that weren't there. (Remember, you were warned)

By 10 am, after a few more repair sessions, most were back on the road, headed for home or other destinations.

Everyone, without known exception seemed to enjoy the company of each other and the only question left unanswered was "When will the next Toyota Motorhome BBQ take place".