After having our solar updated, we returned to Timber Valley, the Escapees' park in Sutherlin. We called Kamper Korner in Roseburg to make an appointment to get our refrigerator fixed and, since they couldn't get to us until Monday, the 10th, we decided to stay at Sutherlin until then.
We pretty much took it easy while we were in Sutherlin...Earl went golfing a couple of times at Oak Hills Golf Club and he also washed the truck and fifth wheel; we took several walks with Maxx up the road toward Cooper Reservoir (the road doesn't go all the way to the reservoir, but the dam can be seen from the end of the road); we had lunch at the Hungry Clam (one two-piece order of fish and chips is more than enough for two people, as we found out) and breakfast at the Apple Peddler; and we did grocery shopping at the nice new Ray's in town.
We also stopped by the local RV dealer who carries the Arctic Fox campers to take a look at them again...we're trying to decide between the Arctic Fox and the Host campers.
We enjoyed our stay so much at the Escapees' park in Sutherlin, that we decided to put our name on the Hot List for a lot there. It's about a five-year wait, so it'll be awhile before our name comes up.
June 10 thru 11
We got up early Monday morning to make our 8:00 AM appointment at Kamper Korner in Roseburg...just a few miles south of Sutherlin. As I had thought, the problem was with the circuit board in the refrigerator which they replaced with a Dinosaur board. While we were waiting for them to fix the refrigerator, we decided to have them also install a King Dome...a covered satellite dish. We've talked about having one installed for some time now because we've had so many problems with reception when the wind blows. They didn't have one in stock and had to order it from Portland. Since it wouldn't be in until Tuesday morning, we decided to spend the night in their lot...they have a full hookup site for customers. After setting up, we drove into Roseburg to do shopping and had lunch at Applebee's.
The King Dome arrived mid-morning on Tuesday and it took them most of the rest of the day to install it...this was their first installation. While they did a fine job installing it, we found out that it comes from the factory programmed for DirecTV. Since we have Dish Network service, the dome has to be reprogrammed and Kamper Korner didn't have the keypad necessary to do the reprogramming. They called the factory and found out that the nearest dealer who did have a keypad was in Coos Bay. Since we were headed for the coast anyway, this worked out fine for us. We called the RV dealer in Coos Bay and made an appointment for Thursday. Since it was late in the afternoon when they finished installing the King Dome, we stayed another night in their lot.
June 12 thru 13
We drove to the Mills Casino in North Bend...just a couple of miles north of Coos Bay. The casino has a large area for RV's to park...it's free with a 10-day limit. We drove to Porter's RV on Thursday morning to have the King Dome reprogrammed for Dish Network and then returned to Mills Casino. After returning, we unhooked so we could go do grocery shopping and then drove out to the coast to have lunch at Fisherman's Grotto.
June 14 thru 18
We drove the South Jetty RV Resort in Florence, a Thousand Trails Park that is also an RPI park, to which we belong. It's a nice park, but heavily treed. We were stuck in a space which had been dug out of the hill...it was like being in a cave. Of course, we couldn't get our satellite tuned in, nor could we get any local programming on our TV.
The first thing we did after getting to Florence and setting up, was to go to Mo's for clam chowder. We made sure we made another trip there before leaving, too! We also had clam chowder at Weber's Fish Market...different from Mo's, but good, nonetheless.
We drove out to the beach to walk Maxx...our first view of the ocean since being in Oregon. We also had to find a laundromat to do laundry since the site we were in at South Jetty didn't have a sewer hookup.
Pacific Ocean:
Maxx & Earl at the ocean:
June 19 thru 20
We left Florence and continued our trip up US-101, stopping at the Cape Perpetua Viewpoint to have lunch. From the viewpoint, one can see the Devils Churn to the south and the town of Yachats to the north.
View south from Cape Perpetua Overlook:
Yachats:
Originally, we were planning on spending a day or two at the Chinook Winds Casino north of Lincoln City, but when we drove through the parking lot, we found that all the RV spaces... such as they were...were full. We then decided to try the Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde, east of Lincoln City on SR-18. This casino has a very nice, large paved area for RV parking and we decided to spend a couple of days. On Thursday, we had breakfast at the casino and then drove to Valley RV Center in McMinnville to check out the Host campers again.
June 21 thru 23
On Friday, we drove to the Old Mill Marina Resort, a Coast to Coast park in Garibaldi, north of Tillamook.
While there, we toured the Tillamook Air Museum which is located in one of 17 wooden hangars built during World War II to house the K-class blimps that were used for anti-submarine coast patrol and convoy escort. Two of these hangars were built at the Tillamook Naval Air Station, but only one remains, the other being destroyed in a 1992 fire. The Air Museum is home to one of the finest collections of privately owned WWII flying aircraft in the nation (according to signs in the museum, all the aircraft are flyable).
Air Museum:
Mini-Guppy:
P-38 Lightning:
Me-109 Messerschmidt:
P-51 Mustang:
PBY-5A Catalina:
After the museum, we went to the Blue Heron French Cheese Factory and bought some Brie, for which they are known. We didn't make it to the Tillamook Cheese Factory...we'll have to save that for another trip.
June 24 thru 25
We left Garibaldi on Monday, stopping to do shopping at the Costco in Warrenton. We spent the next two days at Pacific Holiday RV Park, a Coast to Coast park in Long Beach, Washington. This park isn't quite on the beach, but it's just a short walk to it. We were able to let Maxx loose to run around on the beach...he has lots of fun trying to catch Sea Gulls. He's pretty good about staying close to us...he doesn't like to get too far away; however, we still have to pick and choose the places where we can let him loose.
Pacific Ocean:
Astoria Bridge over Columbia River:
We had dinner at the Crab Pot when we arrived in Long Beach...good food, but a bit on the expensive side. We also had some delicious clam chowder for lunch Tuesday at Grannie Annie's.
June 26 thru 27
We drove to the Columbia River Gorge RV Resort, an RPI/C2C park in Mosier, Oregon. This park has only water and electric hookups and it's a pain to get to...up the mountain on a narrow, winding gravel road. But, once at the park, the view is magnificent...Mt. Adams to the north and a bit of Mt. Hood to the west, plus views down the valley. Since it took some getting to, we decided to spend a couple of days here.
Mt. Adams:
June 28 thru 29
on Friday, we drove to Haystack Reservoir just south of Madras, Oregon, stopping in Madras to do grocery shopping before going out to the Reservoir. This is a Forest Service park, so we were able to camp for half price with Earl's Golden Age Passport card. There are a few spots big enough for an RV our size and we picked one close to a water spigot just in case we needed more water while we were there.
Haystack Reservoir is relatively small, but on the weekend, there were lots of families who came out with their boats and camped. I never did walk down to the lake while the boats were running, but by the sounds of it, the reservoir must have been shore to shore boats.
June 30
We drove about 100 miles to the Elks Club in Condon, Oregon, where we spent the night. This Elks Club has no hookups and it's not one where a large RV would want to park during the week when the bar and dining room are open, because the parking lot is small; however, we were there on Sunday night when the club was closed, so we had the whole lot to ourselves.
