Good Bye, Oregon

 

The following paragraph was written about 2 months ago when we were in the Portland area and I liked it so I decided to leave it in 

6/21/13 - I would like to point out an observation I have made. That is:  the weather in this part of Oregon is subject to change every day about 4 pm. We have been in the “Alaska Drizzle” now off and on for about 2 weeks. We call it the “Alaska Drizzle” because when we were in Alaska that is just what it did a LOT, drizzled. It didn’t rain, you could not really call it sprinkling it was just a fine drizzly mist. But here in Oregon, at about 4 pm the clouds start to break up, the blue sky shows through and then comes the sun. Let me tell you the sun is HOT when it does come out! Once it does come out it is light until almost 9:30 pm. It's wonderful!! But it sure gets to be 10 pm quickly every day!!! We have made it to the top of the state now and are heading to the coast. We are very excited to get there.

And get there we did!!!!

The last 6 weeks of our season were spent on the Oregon Coast, from Astoria to Brookings and everywhere in between. We couldn’t wait to get there and yet we were looking forward to leaving by the time it was over. One thing we realized early on is that the Oregon Coast is NOTHING like the California coast, at least not the Southern California Coast. It is mostly windy, cool, foggy and gray during the summer months. From what we were told the winter months bring horrendous winds, with 70+ mph winds. NO thank you! You know the wind blows consistently when the branches of the trees all face one direction. There were a few days that we had clear skies but still they were never really warm, not like we expected for summer anyway. We wore a light jacket and long pants almost every day. And we never wore shorts the entire summer. When the sun did come out it was beautiful. I loved the huge rocks that dotted the ocean along the coast and that gave refuge to a vast variety of sea birds. One afternoon we were walking on the beach in Cannon Beach and could see a huge black cloud of birds flying and calling out. It turns out that in the middle of the ruckus was a bald eagle. I am sure the eagle was a danger to their nests and or young so they all worked together trying to ward it off. We watched for quite a while until the Eagle finally gave up and went to roost in a tree. It is amazing how once you have seen a bald eagle in a far off tree how well you can then keep picking it out, even after you have looked away for a long period of time. That white head stands out against the green trees. But if you had never seen it before you would never know it was there. We find ourselves looking straight ahead, down or from side to side. When we do look up we are amazed at what we see! Clouds shaped like a silhouette or a poodle, an Osprey carrying a fish in its talons or a Bald Eagle waiting in a distant tree waiting for an opportunity to swoop down on unsuspecting prey. Those are a few of the things that we WILL miss on the Oregon Coast.

Thanks, Elwyn & Judy for meeting us for dinner! We will do it again next year when we are in Brookings again..

 

Downtown Portland

 

Cannon Beach

 



Gold Beach

Gold Beach

 

Bandon - by the Sea, Lighthouse

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting

Flowing Rivers Abound

We have made it through our first month. We have visited over 100 parks driven well over 1500 miles and have seen some beautiful areas. This last week or better we have camped by a beautiful river, visited parks that are nestled right next to some beautiful rivers and driven by lots of beautiful rivers. It may very well be the same river that just keeps going and going. But it looks different at every turn.  We are headed up the I-5 and will make it to the top of the state in about 3 weeks. Our day trips in the Jeep have proven to be some long ones. Some days we leave the comfort of our little box and are away for 8 hours before returning to start catching up on paperwork. It’s a good thing this job is only about a 5 month stint, because it is pretty labor intensive for those 5 months. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining!! We love it! I could do without the bitchy owners that complain about EVERYTHING but as in life you have to take the good with the bad and thankfully the good FAR outweighs the bad.  I miss all my family a LOT and wish there was time I could just get on a plane. But for now this is our life!  We are looking forward to meeting up with some good friends in a day or two. Roger, Sharolyn and Kelly are from Anchorage, AK and are just up the I-5 at a park we have to visit. So while we are there we will get a double dose of visiting.

Until then we have miles to drive and parks to visit… So from Hi Way Haven RV Park in Sutherlin, Oregon, the ONLY RV Park in the country that has a drive-in movie screen THAT works, we hope you are all well and enjoying what has started out to be a beautiful summer (at least here in Oregon anyway)!!

From Rising River RV Park, Roseburg, So. Umpqua River

 From Casey's Riverside RV Park, Westfir, Or - Middle Fork Willamette River

 Casey's Riverside RV Park, Westfir

 Off the side of the road near Casey's

 From Twin River's Vacation Park, Roseburg, No. Umpqua River

 

 

 

 

 

WORK WORK WORK….

It has been just shy of 1 month since we started working and so far we have had 90 degree weather, rain and even some snow. The snow was a bit of a surprise, but it was pretty! I actually love it when is snows. Have you ever noticed how quiet it is when it is snowing or when you wake up to snow on the ground?  Pretty and peaceful…….

The part of Oregon we are working now is the same area we worked in 2011 so it is familiar territory with familiar faces.  The only difference so far has been the weather and that was to be expected since the last time we were here was in the middle of summer.

On our way through Crane, OR we noticed that we were seeing hawks everywhere. More than we have ever seen in one area before. We learned that the reason was because in that area there are a lot of alfalfa fields which bring in the “sage rats”. That is another name for squirrels. People come from all over to use these little squirrels as target practice. L From what we heard if people didn’t shoot them they would decimate an alfalfa field in a short time. So people come in and shoot them then leave them for the birds to eat. That was why there is such a large population of hawks in that area.

We have been able to do a little sightseeing!  While we were in Burns, OR we drove up to Delintment Lake and did a little hike, I do mean little! Hehehe But we did see an unusual duck. We noticed it had a blue bill. That is what caught our attention. We did get some pictures but they are not real clear because we had to zoon in pretty far.  It was a Ruddy Duck and if you Google it, you will see some great pictures. We also saw, an eagle, osprey, blue jay and several other types of ducks. It was a great day trip!

Of course just driving from area to area the views are beautiful, especially along the Columbia River Gorge and through the vast acres of evergreen trees.  We have seen just about everything so far, rivers, forests, farm lands and desert. We have not yet seen the ocean but are headed that way! J We have seen deer, antelope, eagles, horses and lots of cows. Have any of you ever seen a cow that looks like an Oreo cookie? The Belted Galloway's are from Scotland and were  first seen in Canada in the early 1950’s and they are pretty unique! Big or small they all have a white belt around their middle. I can’t remember ever seeing them before.

From where we are staying now, near Medford, Mt. McLoughlin is visible from almost everywhere in town. The locals like to look at the snow melt at different times of the season and look for shapes. Right now there is an angel. I personally think it looks more like Tinkerbelle. What do you think?  Can you see it? Its a little blurry but I think you will still be able to see it..

Well, there is a lot of summer left for all of us and I hope we all have a GREAT time!!  I for one am ready for the long days, warm nights and plenty of sunshine!!  I hope you all have the same. 

 

ONE KIND WORD CAN CHANGE SOMEONE’S ENTIRE DAY

Mount McLoughlin

Galloway's or Belties as they are called by some!

LET THE FUN BEGIN

Tomorrow will mark the first day of work for 2013. We have a very busy summer ahead of us and I am not sure how often I will be able to write but I am going to try. We hear that Oregon is beautiful and we are looking forward to seeing it for ourselves. We have seen some of Oregon but the coast is supposed to be beautiful and we will get to see it ALL……. We are looking forward to seeing it.

For the past few days we have been in Winnemucca, Nevada. This is an interesting little big town. There is a huge mining operation based out of here. It is a gold mine literally! With gold at such a high price I am sure someone is making money hand over fist. In fact across the street from the RV Park we are in, there is a building project where the mining company is creating a village of homes for the workers. The company is Newmont Mining Company. I had never heard of them before stopping here but I guess they are huge. There are parking lots around town that are full of cars every day. It doesn’t appear unemployment is a problem around here.

Last Saturday we heard about a balloon fiesta in town. We always like watching the balloons fly so we headed to the sports complex to take in the festivities. As soon as we arrived we realized this was not an ordinary “fiesta”. There were only 4 balloons total and the announcer sounded like someone out of high school. When the first balloon took off he announced the name of the balloon, the pilot and then stammered….. “Um I don’t remember the sponsor”. HaHaHa In the next 20 minutes all 4 of the balloons were in the air and we were headed back to the motorhome. This sure isn’t Albuquerque!

Each night after dinner when we walk it is always a nice experience. We usually see something that is interesting, beautiful or heartwarming. Tonight for me it was the later! As we walked down the street we passed several little league fields full of kids playing ball. The sight and sound of little league brings back such good memories of when Josh used to play. I remember when the season started it always turned cold! It didn’t matter if the weather had been beautiful the weeks before when practice started it was cold. It is not cold here, that is not what made me think of that but it is just what always comes to mind. The memory of when the kids were young always brings such “heartwarming” thoughts.

ANYONE STILL OUT THERE???

I have neglected my little blog!  I don’t think it’s that I don’t have the time or anything to write about; it’s more I am just not making the time to do it. You know as well as I do there is a difference between having time and making time! I wouldn’t say I have gotten lazy because we are very busy most days. I think it is a matter of priorities! My priorities have shifted and I’m not sure I like the direction they are going! Instead of sitting outside to eat dinner we sit inside and watch TV while we eat dinner, instead of going sightseeing we are working our files for Good Sam preparing for the start of our season on May 1st, instead of looking forward to a new city where we want to go bird watching or stop by a brewery to have a local beer we are planning our route to accommodate getting to our territory for work. This is going to have to change!! Once this becomes a “lifestyle” of normalcy then it is time to stir things up. And trust me I am looking for a HUGE spoon!!! Some unexpected life changes have taken place around us that have given pause to how we have started viewing life. It is time to start having fun again! With unexpected deaths, strokes, cancer diagnosis and the like it brings home the fact that you never know what tomorrow will bring! It has been 7 years since we retired and hit the road in our little “home” on wheels. In those 7 years we have been blessed with 3 beautiful grandchildren and have been to just about every state, but have not spent a lot of time in each, except for a few, like Ohio (where are grandbabies are), Florida and Alaska. Awe……. Alaska, now THAT is one state we want to go back to, and we will someday. Alaska is where our retired lives took a right turn. We met a wonderful couple in Valdez, AK who would eventually introduce us to the life of advertising sales for Good Sam. That was in 2011 and for the last 2 years we have been working for Good Sam during the summer months, first in Minnesota then Washington State and now Oregon. We love the work and meeting all the different RV Park owners is great. Our dream when we retired and started this lifestyle was to zig zag every state until we felt we had seen everything there was to see, well with Good Sam that is what we are doing. The only thing is we are not doing it on a sightseeing trek. But we are getting to see area’s we most likely would never have seen and let me tell you there are some beautiful area’s in this country where the air is clean, the water fresh and people friendly! We are visiting campgrounds across the states, evaluating them and trying to sell advertising for the campground directory that Good Sam publishes. Our job has to be completed by the end of August so it doesn’t leave much time for fun but the job in itself is fun. Will we do this forever? Probably not! If we ever want to fulfill our dream of going back to Alaska we will have to give this up at some point. For now the people we are working for and with are wonderful, so until this isn’t fun anymore or we decide life is passing us by, we are employed again. Presently we are staying in St. George, Utah working our way up north to Oregon. It is that time of year where one day you wear a coat the next you are in shorts.  When we arrived here last Wed. there was a fresh blanket of snow on the mountain tops around us, the temp was in the high 50’s to low 60’s and it was rainy. Today the temperature is going to get up to the mid to high 70’s with an abundance of sunshine. Gotta go out and get my allotment of vitamin D today!! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, full of sunshine and fun things to do! Until next time ~ 'If YOU live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.' - Winnie the Pooh.