Tuesday, May 7, 2013 (Mehama, OR)

We got up to another beautiful day. We got things tucked away and hitched up and headed to the dump station. This campground didn’thave the sewer connection at each campsite, only electric and water. This is the first time on the road that we’ve had to use the dump station. After we got that job complete we hit the road to Junction City. It was just a short drive and we left with plenty of time to spare. Good thing.

We were just turning down the street that the warranty service area is on, it’s just off the main drag of Hwy 99 and all of a sudden the tire pressure system alarm went off. Now what in the world could that be? We pulled into the driveway of Guaranty which was very crowded with people and their rigs checking in. Rich had me jump out to see if we were off the road and I could hear this hissing sound. Some guy was walking by and said, "Boy I think you have a leak". Sure enough, the rear driver side fiver tire was loosing pressure fast. What?!? Upon closer inspection there was this huge (I wish we had thought to take a picture, but in the heat of the moment, didn’t think to pull the camera out) piece of a lead tire weight sticking out of the tire. Oh no, this doesn’t look good, but the timing was perfect if it had to happen. Apparently as we were turning the corner, we picked up a lead tire weight that had come off some vehicle. Bummer….. Well upon chatting with Guaranty, they suggested that we call Les Schwab to come and change out the tire. Luckily they are just down the street.

The Les Schwab guy shows up in his mobile truck and starts to work jacking up the fiver. We don’t have the traditional axle setup, we have a MoreRyde Independent Suspension system which is suppose to give a smoother ride and that’s about all I know about it. So he had to figure out how to jack up the rig to get the tire off, which he finally did. He couldn’t tell if the tire could be repaired or would have to be replaced, so it was decided to pull down the spare which was on a wheel and was exactly like the other tires, in other words it wasn’t like a car spare tire. This is not my field of expertise, so excuse the non technical explanations. Anyway, to get the spare tire down, we had to find out where the little crank hole was to lower it, which after some exploration we discovered was behind the license plate. Then the next question was where is your crank? Where is our what? You know, the metal bar that you use to turn this little knob inside this hole behind the license plate which will lower the tire down. I’d never even seen a setup like this though Rich assured me our pickup spare is set up the same way. Well now I know. =)

So the hunt was on for the crank. We looked in one compartment, nope wasn’t there. Hmmm that only leaves the big compartment where we have all of our extra tools/hoses/miscellaneous stuff that you just can’t live without. So here we were, unloading our worldly possessions along side the fiver and the street looking for our little crank. Well of course, next to us was this fancy big motorhome from Alberta, Canada and a very tanned couple who apparently must have been down south for the winter going over their work items with a rep, do they have to unload their rig in front of everyone, nooo. Oh well, it is what it is. Well we finally found the rascally crank and down came the tire. Whew. So then it was off to the tire store to see if we were repairing or buying a new tire.

Bad news, was that the tire couldn’t be repaired, so it’s a new one. The question was, do you stick with the Goodyear brand to the tune of $500+ shipping or do you go with a different brand for half the price. The salesman assured us it was the same quality tire and since it was to be the spare tire, we opted for the cheaper tire. Hopefully we’ll never have to use it. We always start our journey’s out with a prayer for safety, so glad that if we had to experience a flat tire, that it happened where it did instead of the road coming down from Fern Ridge Reservoir where there were no shoulders at all. We learned some valuable lessons on that little jaunt which is what life it about.

Well needless to say, after that delay we were well past our 10:00 check in time. We finally got to meet with Dean our warranty rep and walked through the couple items on our list which took no time at all. Since we can stay at my mom’s, we told him that if needed, they could have a couple days to get things fixed. So the plan was for him to call us tomorrow and let us know the timing on the repairs.

So after a quick lunch at the local Dairy Queen, we were on our way to my mom’s. It was a nice sunny drive on the back roads from Junction City to Mehama. It is so pretty in the valley when the sun is shining. It’s just all that other time with the rainy, gray skies, that I don’t care for. It was a relief to get to my mom’s after our adventure in the morning.

Monday, May 6, 2013 (Fern Ridge Reservoir, OR)

We had a nice pleasant, uneventful drive to our next destination. It was a short drive, only a little over an hour to Fern Ridge Reservoir and the Richardson Campground. We had stayed there last year in October in our camper while we were waiting for the fifth wheel prep work to be done. It is a very nice and quiet campground; the only downside is there is poison oak around. What’s up with all this poison oak? At least they have signs posted in the areas where the poison oak is located.

We had called ahead to make sure that they would have a site available that would fit our setup, we need comfortably around 60 feet, so we have room to unhitch the truck and park. They assured us that they did, but when we pulled in the camp host came running out saying, my that’s a big setup. She gave us a couple options and we were able to fit just fine in site 32.

After we got unhitched and sat outside under our awning and had a bite to eat. It was nice to sit outside and have the nice warm breeze. We decided after lunch to go for a bike ride around the campground and marina. It’s a really nice setup and I guess it’s a really popular lake in the summer. I can see why. They have some nice day use/beach areas. We could see another park/marina across the way and it looked like we could get there without riding on the highway so we took off. Every thing was fine except the last mile or so. The road was made up of the big size rock which made it really hard to ride on, it was very bouncy and rough but we made it. I don’t remember the name of this park and marina but it was huge. There were already lots of families and young people out in the sun enjoying the water.  We also found a tree with a beehive inside, very interesting. 

View of Fern Ridge Reservoir

.

After we got back to our campsite we decided we should wash the salt off our fiver and truck? So out came the hoses and brush. Rich manned the brush, while I got the fun job of operating the hose. I was nice; I didn’t squirt Rich, well at least not on purpose. =) That was a nice job to get finished. We decided to wait on the truck until we got to my mom’s.

We had another nice dinner outside, summer’s here. Yahoo. We took another nice walk around the campground before calling it a night. We have an appointment at Guaranty tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.

Biking around the marina



Bee's home in a tree



walking along the reservoir



More boats



Sunday, May 5, 2013 (Florence, Oregon)

We had a little more wind last night, but nothing like at Brookings, we are so protected from the wind here, it is nice.  We are really liking the peace and quiet of this park.  When we first drove in, we weren't too sure, but the longer we are here, the more we are appreciating the privacy and the quiet.  The nice warm weather has really helped too. 

We had picked out a church to attend today, it was called Faith Fellowship.  Wow, what a friendly church.  We talked to a couple that used to live in Bend and have been traveling the last 8 years.  They have recently decided to make Florence their home base but they still go south for the winter.  They said that Florence is a well kept secret, they really like it here.  We also chatted with another man who had spent time in the Bend area doing some archery hunting and had actually run into our pastor Ken from Westside.  They have a nice worship time and the pastor had a good message, we would definitely go back to this church if we were in the area again.

We decided after church instead of our usual Starbucks latte, that we were going to head back to the Firehouse Restaurant and have another bowl of that yummy clam chowder.  Boy it was warm out, it was already in the 80's and it was just noon.  After our lunch, we stopped and fueled up with diesel in preparation for heading out tomorrow toward Junction City to get our warranty work done on the fiver. 

We got back home and I took my book outside to do a little reading, I had just gotten comfortable and settled into my book and the wind changed and instead of being the nice warm breeze that had been blowing, it was cool.  Yesterday afternoon when we were walking on the beach, every once in awhile the wind would shift briefly and come off the ocean and it would be noticeably cooler but then it shifted back over the land and was warm again.  Well I thought that was what would happen today, but no, the longer I sat there the cooler it got.  It was like a big freezer door had been opened.  Once I started getting goose bumps, it was time to go in.  I checked the thermometer and the temperature was dropping.  Within 15 minutes, I bet the temperature dropped 20 degrees and the clouds started to roll in.  I had never experienced such a dramatic change in temperature before, it was startling.  So much for reading outside.

We have enjoyed our stay on the coast, but we are ready to head out tomorrow.  We'll see what our next adventure brings. 

Saturday, May 4, 2013 (Florence, Oregon)

We woke up to more sunshine today.  We have really had some amazing weather while we've been on the coast.  It's suppose to be in the 80's today.  After breakfast we decided to go for a walk on the beach with Gracie.  When we checked out the beach on Thursday, there wasn't a soul on it, well it was a different story today.  The beach was the place to be.  We decided to walk down to the jetty, I think it's called the north jetty.  It was quite a jaunt.  As usual, we threw Gracie's ball the whole way down and most of the way back. 

Standing on the jetty looking north

Rich and Gracie checking out the scenery

After we got back from our walk, we had some lunch and talked about going up to see Heceta Lighthouse, but decided to spend some time relaxing with our books outside.  It was starting to get very warm and our chairs and books sounded very inviting. 

We spent the afternoon reading and at one point walked to the little store here to get an ice cream to help us cool off.  The gal at the store said they only get really warm days like this once in a great while.  We were glad they were getting one while we were there, it was so very nice outside.  We decided to take another walk down on the beach before dinner, so off we went.  The beach was even more crowded than before.  We walked in the surf some and on the sand some and of course threw Gracie's ball.  The wind started whipping up pretty good and blowing the sand across the beach, so it was time to head back to our rig. 

What a beautiful day at the Oregon coast.  We're loving it. 

Friday, May 3, 2013 (Florence, Oregon)

We had a leisurely morning and made plans to head down to Old Town Florence for lunch.  The sun was shining and it was going to be a lovely day.  We stopped at the visitor's center and picked up some literature about the area and I asked the attendant if she had a favorite clam chowder restaurant.  She gave us two options and off we went to search them out.  We ended up eating outside at the Firehouse Restaurant.  They had amazing clam chowder.  And like the name suggests, the motif in the restaurant was around firemen.  They had tee shirts hanging on the walls from many different fire stations along with the firemen hats, etc.

 

After lunch we looked through some of the shops and passed by this very pretty garden. 

And then we walked down to the marina to check out the boats.  Look at this black boat, it was so creepy looking.  The picture doesn't do it justice, it was very old and falling apart and it didn't look very sea worthy, but it looked like someone might be living on it.

After the marina walk, we headed back to the truck.  There was an RV park down by the marina that we checked out, but we like the park we are at much better.  It is so quiet and private. 



Thursday, May 2, 2013 (Florence, Oregon)

We had a rough night last night, the wind kept both of us awake most of the night and Rich got a sore throat in the middle of the night.  Not the best way to start out a travel day.  It was around 74 degrees by the time we left Harbor at around 9:00 a.m.  We wanted to get an early start since we had approximately 155 miles to go today. 

We stopped at the Mill Casino in Coos Bay to have our lunch that I had packed and to stretch our legs.  That was a nice stop, casinos typically have RV parking which is the reason we pulled off.  We were a little leery about pulling off onto any roadside viewpoints after the poison oak adventure the other day.  Which by the way, so far so good as far as getting a rash. 

We got to Florence and our pull through site at Heceta Beach RV Park around 2:00 in the afternoon.  Our drive was pretty uneventful except at one point we had a deer run out across the road in front of us, that was a little scary, but the deer and us survived.  =)

This park is very quiet and is not on the beach at all though we can hear the surf in the background.  It will be a nice change from the site at Harbor.  The ocean view at Harbor is great, but you have absolutely no privacy and there are people around all the time.  Here is a picture of our site, they kind of have this maze thing going on.  All the sites are seperated by this shrubby hedge.  The temps are definitely cooler here, only in the 60's instead of the 80's we experienced yesterday, but the sun is still shining.  

After we got set up, we jumped on the bikes for our exploring tour.  We rode down to the beach but didn't go out on the beach, the wind was whipping the sand pretty good, we'll save that for a different day.  It's an easy walk to the beach, so next time we'll probably walk so we don't have to worry about having to find a spot for the bikes.  The beach looks nice and long, good for walking.  With all this wind, I need to get my kite out. 

Back at our site, we just kicked back and did some reading before dinner.  I picked the rest of the crab and made a Crab Louie salad and we had the rest of our steak from the night before (I forgot to mention that they were huge....). 

We usually are American Idol fans, but for some reason this year haven't gotten into it, but since we knew they were getting down to the finals decided to turn it on tonight to see who made the top 3. 

We had an early night since we both were tired from our lack of sleep the last couple of nights.  The nice thing about all these shrubby hedges, is that they are very good at blocking the wind. 



Wednesday, May 1, 2013 (Harbor, OR)

We woke up to sunny skies after a windy night.  We slept with the window open and could hear the surf pounding all night long.  After a leisurely start to the morning, we jumped on the bikes and took a scouting trip around the bayfront.  We checked out two other RV parks that weren't on the water front and were less crowded and found one that we thought we would like if we decide to stay another night. 

We rode around the marina and took some pictures but for some reason our camera had a hiccup and we only ended up with these two.  The flowers were gorgeous, I had never seen anything like them before, they were almost like a very large ice plant.  The photo doesn't really show them to their best advantage, the bank was covered in these big purplish flowers. 

After checking out the different fishing boats in the marina, we stopped at a fish market and picked up two fresh cooked crab and headed back to the rig for lunch. 

I hadn't had to pick crab out of the shell since I don't know when, should have taken a picture, but our fingers were to messy.  We ate outside at our picnic table with a view of the ocean and the warm sunshine on our backs.  Boy it's getting warm out today.

After lunch we lazed around our site for awhile and decided that we would be heading up to Florence area to stay until Monday when we head back to Junction City for our warranty work.  Since that decision was made, we decided to go top off the diesel tank and grab a few grocery items. 

After we got back we took Gracie for a walk down the beach, this time without her ball.  There is a lot of rock and wood debris on this beach.  We wondered if it was all from the tsumani or if the beach was always like this?  There were a couple kids playing in the ocean and one man trying to surf fish.  We had a nice bbq steak dinner, again outside at our picnic table.  Unfortunately the wind picked up again in the late evening, looks like were are in for another noisy night of the slide toppers flapping in the wind.  It was so hot today that we had to turn on our air conditioner to cool down the bedroom.  Love the warm sunshine but not the wind so much.