The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

We found the cheese and the sunshine

The Rogue Creamery in Central Point, Oregon, has been making cheese since the early days of the Depression. At that time, “artisan” wasn’t a common word associated with food, but the Vella family decided the only way to keep their business viable was to create a new image. That commitment to creating artisan cheeses changed everything, and the Rogue Creamery has become world renown, with award winning blue cheese, among others.

I read about the creamery in Sunset magazine, read about it again in some food magazines, and then again in a newspaper article touting this amazing cheese resource right under our noses. They host the annual cheese festival, and it seems that this little corner of Central Point is home to several artisan food makers that participate.

Often, Mo and I would drive through Central Point near Medford on our way to somewhere else and see the big banner “Oregon Cheese Festival” and say to each other, “Gee, we have to do that sometime”. Isn’t is amazing how often something so close to home can be overlooked while we wander the country searching for new adventures?

Yesterday, the adventure was all about cheese, and wine, and chocolate, and more wine, and more cheese, and some great breads, and oh yes…pesto….and salsa….and lavender jam….and habanero chili lime cilantro sauce…..and …..and….more wine.

Just an hour from home, with a dusting of snow on the pass, we found the big white tent with hundreds of cars parked on all the side streets and friendly bike cops patrolling the crosswalks. There were a LOT of people there, and a LOT of people sharing their passion for artisan everything.

We really had no idea what to expect, thinking perhaps there would be a small gathering of folks, a few booths maybe. Instead, the huge tent was filled to the brim and it seems that there was a lot more wine than cheese! For five bucks we got a bracelet with ten spots to check off for wine tasting.

Now, as you know, a tasting isn’t really all that much, but after ten of them, I was as giddy and bubbly as a kid out of school. And I couldn’t figure out how I could be so FULL from eating all those little bites of wonderful tasty things. After all, they were just little bites, and little sips, right?

My favorite thing of all was the Clear Creek artisan distillery using beautiful Oregon pears to make pear brandy and pear liqueur. That was truly amazing stuff, and they even have bottles with a perfect pear INSIDE floating in the crystalline 80 proof tasty brandy. The liqueur was to die for. Maybe that was why all the cheese tasted so good and I felt so giddy.

We topped off the afternoon with a trip to Chico’s for me (ahhh yes…have I mentioned I am a Chico’s addict?) and a Costco run for the best chicken breasts around, cashews that are bigger and fatter than any others, and pecans at half the price of the grocery store. No toilet paper. How many Costco baskets can you count leaving the store that don’t have huge packs of toilet paper in them? Not many!

We woke again this morning to a dusting of snow, and once again loaded up the Tracker with dog, cat, food, (including of course, our artisan purchases of cheese, salsa, hot pepper jam, and other goodies), clothes, cameras, computers and ourselves, for the four hour trip to Brookings where the MoHo safely awaits our return. This time the pass had a lot more than a simple dusting of snow, with the plows running heavy and a near blizzard at the top. Once again I was grateful that we weren’t driving the MoHo over that pass to get out of the basin!

Once in Medford, things settled down, but we again had snow on Highway 199 along the Smith River. I have never seen the Smith running so high and frothy, and all along the canyon, water cascaded down the rocks at every turn. We stopped for one of the biggest ones, along with several other cars taking advantage of the deluge.

Once we reached the “Banana Belt of Oregon”, however, the sun was shining and the skies were clear and gorgeous. Not a speck of fog or rain, but huge white cumulus clouds in the sky made the blue seem even brighter. Harris Beach yielded up the prettiest site we have had so far, and we have had some nice ones. A24, down toward the far end of the front row, has a wide view of the ocean, with just enough trees to keep us a bit hidden from incoming cars on the road below. Lots of empty spaces on the front row this afternoon, and we took the very best\

Just a couple more little things to share that I keep forgetting about. Geez. We finally made it onto the HitchItch.com website. Of course, we are still in the process of being accepted or not, but hopefully they won’t dump us in the near future. Al was right, people seem to really use that site a lot to find out where the RV bloggers are.

Then, I just wanted to share the really gorgeous poster that we bought from our last trip up to the northern part of the coast. The whole Lewis and Clark history was so wonderful, and the poster so gorgeous, we couldn’t resist. It is a good thing Mo’s ceilings are ten footers and that there is still room in the office up high for one more wall thingy. (You know, of course, that you can click on these photos if you care to see them bigger)

Actually, speaking of wall thingy’s. I just have to share this incredible gift from my daughter Deanna. When she visited last month, she said her whole reason was to bring something to me that she just didn’t want to ship in the mail. Needlepoint is something Deanna has done for some time now, and she whiles away her non-driving time with needle in hand. I am the lucky recipient of this amazing stitchery, framed perfectly, and ready to hang. I think of her every time I pass the low wall in the kitchen where it now hangs. Just tickles me no end.

With all the rain predicted for our trip south, it’s hard not to want to just sit here overlooking the amazing ocean, but the road calls, new sights await. Besides, if we sat here it would probably just rain anyway.

Yes!

I won! I won!! Amazing. Those of you who rode along with me in the MoHo on the Coast 101 Quilt Run (my very first such experience), and wished me well, are in for some thank you’s. I won a third prize gift certificate for $50 to spend at will at the sweet little quilt shop in Brookings. I am happy to say that this was one of my favorite stores of the 14 that I visited. I had given up on winning anything except receipts for all the fabric I bought when this little card showed up in the mail yesterday. Needless to say, I am tickled and already imagining and remembering all those gorgeous fabrics and the great ladies I met in the shop last month.

Lucky me, since we are heading back to Brookings on Sunday morning, and I told Mo that we would have to wait until store opening time on Monday before we travel south to California. Once again we are going south, looking for sunshine and warmth. According to the predictions, however, it might be warmer than Rocky Point but probably not much sunnier. A big storm is dampening the west right now, and it spreads far and wide.

Our plans have shifted back and forth several times, with thoughts of traveling far enough south to the Carizzo Plain to see the amazing wildflower show. The image on the right is from the internet (I have no idea who to acknowledge here), but it is one I have seen repeatedly when searching for wildflower blooming times in the California springtime. The Carizzo Plain and the Tremblor Mountains straddle the San Andreas Fault and are a long way from anywhere southeast of Paso Robles and southwest of Bakersfield.

I plugged the plan into Streets and Trips, counted the days, looked at the weather, and looked at the lack of rain and rethought the plan. Wildflowers on the plain are an ephemeral thing, totally dependent on the timing of rainfall, and this year there has been very little. Rumor has it there isn’t much blooming yet. The Carizzo Plain will have to wait for another year. Of course, now that we have ten days to get away, it is raining. Of course.

Gas prices being what they are, and timing being what it is, I decided instead that it might be time to go see Pinnacles National Monument. Merikay was there recently and took some great photos. Mo was there many years ago when she lived near Half Moon Bay, but I have never seen it. Several friends from soil survey have been involved in the soil mapping there as well. I have read papers, and seen the results of research and study, but now I just want to walk and explore and experience what it has to offer.

Being a national monument, we knew that Abby couldn’t go on the trails, so planned for a doggie day care in nearby Gilroy for the two days we plan to stay in the park. The day care seems rather amazing, with no cages, just lots of beds and toys and other friendly dogs in a big doggie park kind of environment.

Last week I wasn’t working, but of course Mo and I had some big projects waiting for a non-working, non-traveling week. We finished the painting project started last year at this time and completed our office, and mud room and back entry halls.

In the early mornings I worked on the baby blanket I am knitting for Mo’s new grand niece born just after her birthday and took one long afternoon to pull out the sewing machine. When Maryruth and I had our girls weekend last fall, we bought fabric and patterns at the quilt shop in Chico, but of course Maryruth doesn’t quilt. I am making this diamond lattice table runner for her. As simple as it looks, it still is a bit of a challenge for me as a newbie, but I am having so much fun with it. It amazes me how all these little puzzle pieces actually turn into something.

This week was a working week for me again, and Mo managed to finish painting her entire big bathroom while I plunked away on the computer. It is Friday!! I shut down NASIS for the last time this evening and won’t look at it again for ten days. Poured myself a glass of wine and took a deep breath. Tomorrow we will brave whatever the weather gods have in store for us over the Highway 140 pass to go to Medford for the day. Our destination: the annual Cheese Festival at the Rogue Creamery and of course an opportunistic Costo Run as well. Gotta stock up for our Sunday exit to sunny…er…rainy California.

The MoHo

We drive a 26 foot 2006 Dynamax Isata E Series 254, on a Ford Chassis with a 450 V-10 gasoline engine.

Our first experience with Dynamax was with the small 21 foot used Dynamax Starflight that Mo bought back in 2005. Back then we thought we were so incredibly original to come up with the name “MoHo” since it was MO’s HOme. Ah well, since then I have discovered that MoHo is often a short name for other MOtorHOmes. It was a cute little rig, but really too small for extended travels. We loved it, though, and discovered over the two years that we drove it that the quality of Dynamax was dependable. Mo started looking for a newer rig and found our Dynamax Isata in New Braunfels, Texas in December of 2007. We drove to the east coast for a cross country trip and picked up the new MoHo trading in the old one on the way back west.

She was a year old model at that time, but still new with a new vehicle warranty. At 26 feet, she is short enough for easy travel in tight spots but big enough for us to feel comfortable for extended traveling. Our longest trip out has been about 2 months. With a Ford 450 V-10, we have enough power to easily pull our 2001 Chevy Tracker, usually loaded up with our Swift kayaks and our bikes. We get about 9 miles per gallon on a good day. One of our favorite features is the automatic engine downshift when in tow haul mode. It works great for steep, mountainous western driving.

When we first bought the rig, we drove home from New Braunfels, Texas to Oregon. It was a good opportunity to learn the rig and with the 800 number for the dealer, we had good help with small issues. Since then we have had to replace fuses now and then, replaced the relay for the inverter, and finally fixed the goofy passenger seat wiring that kept causing the fuses to blow for the seat adjustment buttons.

A bigger issue that took a bit of doing was the right side mirror, which was defective. It took a bit of hassling to get that replaced, but it was done through the warranty at Central Point RV. The step also had some issues and was also under warranty. The biggest issue, however, was the manifold exhaust, which came loose on a stormy night when we were trying to get back to Oregon from my home in California. A post about some of these initial issues is here.

We have one slide for the living area, and the bed in the rear is always down. It’s a 3/4 bed, but we both like not having to make down a bed every night. We also know that neither of us is young enough or agile enough to climb up into a cab over bed, which is why we weren’t interested in a Class C. Some of the newer models, with a couple more feet, actually have a bedroom slide-out with a full queen bed. Making the bed is a bit of a pain right now and that is one feature that could tempt us to upsize someday in the far out future.

We have a comfortable leather sofa that makes down into a queen size bed but no dinette. There is a pedestal table that we don’t use much and instead we have folding tables that we store behind the sofa and bring out when we park. One feature we really love is that everything is accessible to us when the slide is closed, so we can stop along the road and rest, cook, get in the refrigerator, or use the bathroom with no difficulty. Also nice for windy nights when we want to leave the slide closed anyway.

After six years, we have actually decided to replace the leather sofa with a Flexsteel leather dinette that will make into a single bed if needed. I’ll update when that project is completed. Countryside Interiors in Junction City, Oregon is in charge of the installation. We also replaced the original very poor mattress with a new one specially made from American Mattress in Eugene, Oregon in late summer 2013. Much Much Better! As of October 24, we have the new dinette installed. See my post about our upgrade here.

We both drive, although Mo tends to do more than I do. She likes my navigating skills and hates doing that part herself. The rig is comfortable and easy to drive, easy to park, and easy to handle in traffic, even with the towed. The rig is extremely well built, and even after several weeks on the roads in Alaska and Canada, we didn’t have any serious problems with anything breaking, rattling, or coming loose. All the materials used in the interior are super high quality, corian sinks, leather upholstery, nice wood, a good porcelain toilet, brushed nickel faucets and shower head, that sort of thing.

We have been really blessed and with the exception of a very few minor fixes when the rig was new, she has been dependable and not prone to stuff going wrong. Sometimes I still think of her as new, but now at six years old there are no real signs of wear or leaking. The paint is still nearly perfect and Mo just uses the liquid waxes after she washes the rig.

Mo replaced the house batteries last year, and our Onan generator is still working well. We do try to start it up on a regular basis and let it run for a bit if we haven’t used it.

One downside that Mo has discovered is that the batteries are in a very inconvenient location in one of the lower bays. They are open to the road and get dirty and are difficult to reach when trying to check the fluid levels. The batteries are not closed cell batteries.

In 2010, with kudos to Michelin, we replaced the tires. While the MoHo was brand new to us in 2007, and it had very close to zero miles, the model was 2006, and the chassis was actually from 2005. The MoHo sat in the hot Texas sun waiting for her new owner, and we then added around 18,000 miles on the rig before Mo noticed that the tires were checked and cracked, and very dangerous. Buying six light truck e-class tires is not a cheap proposition! Michelin to the rescue. After reading the fine print, we found that the tires were still under warranty. Michelin gave us an 85 percent credit toward the entire set of six! We got brand new tires on the Michelin warranty for a little over 200 bucks.

Mo also replaced the non functioning CO2 monitor in 2011, and we have had to order door handles for both the fridge and freezer part of the Dometic refrigerator.

Folks driving a big Class A with those gorgeous huge windows might miss those open views and light. I know I do, but with all the other features that are so convenient and useful, I’m still not willing to wish for a Class A. Since we are not full time RV’rs, we have all we need with this rig for now.

I received a couple of questions about what is in the upper part of the cabover in our rig, so added this photo even though it isn’t exactly blog quality!

The photo shows that our cabover is basically empty in the forward part over the driver’s seat. Helps a lot to keep us from feeling claustrophobic and from worrying about a TV falling on our head.

Our driver and passenger seats are very comfortable, but they do not swivel. That would be another feature we would appreciate and may upgrade the passenger seat eventually.

Another person asked about cat litter. If you look in the hall shot toward the bedroom, the tall scatter proof gray box travels there when we are moving and moves in front of the passenger seat when we are parked. Quarters are obviously cleaned as quickly as you might flush any other kind of toilet in your rig.

The long trek home, and breakfast with Donna and Russ

February 24, 25, and 26 Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Once on the road again, we enjoyed the beautiful drive across the Astoria Bridge, once criticized as “the bridge to nowhere”. We crossed the Columbia River for the last time as we traveled its southern shore toward Portland. All routes pointing south encouraged us to cross the bridge at Longview and continue south through Portland on I-5, but we had other plans. As mentioned previously, Mo grew up in Columbia City, and it’s always fun to retrace old steps and check out how the old homesteads are doing.

The drive along the river was beautiful, even on a cloudy day, and traffic was light. Mo’s school still stood, and big old house that Mo grew up in didn’t look much different than she remembered. She laughed as we crossed the steep street that used to serve as a sledding hill when the occasional snow storm would hit. We drove on to the nearby St Helens to see the two houses that her grandfather built. They looked a bit worse for wear, but were still in use. As we drove around she told me stories of her aunts and uncles, grandma, and grandpa, and what it was like growing up in a small town in Oregon.

We kept our NUVI Garmin tucked away for the entire trip, relying on the phone to get us around, but for navigating freeways in big cities, Garmin Girl can’t be beat. Even in a city we know well, it was nice to have the image pop up when it came time to remember which lane we needed to get from the 30 to the 405 to the 5 going south. Traffic wasn’t a problem and Mo maneuvered through the city with ease.

By the time we got to Eugene, the threatening storm clouds turned to heavy rain, and we settled in to our free parking spot just in time. Our choice for the evening was the Valley River Mall in Eugene, reviewed both here by Laurie and Odel and here by Nina of Wheelin’It. I read both those reviews and easily decided we wanted to make use of this delightful free space for our night in Eugene.

Just across the parking lot was one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, El Torito. We had soup thawed, but it was time for a Marguerita and with our luck it was still Happy Hour at the bar. We had drinks for $3 each and a tremendous plate of fabulous nachos to share that made dinner completely unnecessary. The place was jumping busy and our cute little bartender asked us if we intended to “party like rock stars”. Hmmm. Not so sure I remember what that even means any more!

The next morning we were up just in time to button up the rig and see Russ and Donna drive up to our door. Their plan was to take us to their second favorite restaurant for breakfast since it was right on our route. We met the two of them once before in Eugene, and knew that a visit would be full of fun and laughter. Russ and Donna are really so much fun to be around. Russ is always doing something silly, cracking jokes and one liners, and Donna knows just how to bring out the best in everyone. We all laughed and played a bit in the remnants of snow on a parked truck. No, that snow wasn’t on our road, thank goodness!

Back on the road again, we traveled through all sorts of dramatic weather, including snow, sleet, rain, sun, and wind on the way west to Florence. Once there, the sky was gorgeous and we found blooming camellias lining the road next to the Joy of Quilting, where I decided another stop was in order.

In no time we were back at Harris Beach State Park, where once again our A10 site was the only one available on the front row with a view and cable. With the gorgeous sunshine and hardly any wind, we were thrilled to take another walk on Harris Beach as the afternoon turned toward evening. Finally, after carrying that firewood I bought originally the first night we were here, and carried the entire trip in the baby car, Mo built a big campfire. We sat outside enjoying the clear but chilly evening with our supper.

We have an ending routine that works pretty well for us. On our last night in Brookings, I do laundry at the park, where the machines cost just a buck and a buck quarter to dry. Mo gets everything cleaned and stashed for the night and we usually sleep without sheets since I want them clean for the next trip. In the morning we dump the tanks, add the smell prevention stuff to the gray tank, and head for town unhooked. We fill the MoHo, assuming that gasoline will be more expensive when we return for the next trip, and drive across the street for a McDonald’s breakfast before heading for the car wash to clean off the salt spray from the rig before slipping her back into the storage shed. This time our little routine was thwarted with the car wash all closed up, and it’s the only one in town. Since we are planning on coming back in three weeks, hopefully that salt residue won’t hurt anything till then.

Then with everything piled into the baby car, dog, cat, ice chest of fresh food still remaining, clothes I can’t bear to not have in both places, and other assorted flotsam, we make the 4 hour drive back over the coast range to Grants Pass and over the Lake of the Woods pass to home. Last year our routine was a bit different, traveling south to get the MoHo in Redding. We both have decided we like this routine much better. In fact, Brookings and Harris Beach are so darn nice we could just unpack the MoHo from storage and stay there without traveling anywhere. But not next time. Next time we will again travel south to California, hoping to find some warmth and some blooming wildflowers. I do love love love that RV life.

Long Beach and Cape Disappointment

Thursday February 23rd

Except for the 3 mile move from Fort Stevens to Camp Rilea, I think today may have been one of the shortest drives from one site to another that we have experienced. In just 21.7 very short miles from Warrenton, north on 101, crossing the beautiful green bridge at Astoria, and winding along the north shore of the Columbia River, we entered the little town of Long Beach, Washington. Oh. Sales taxes again! We are so very spoiled in Oregon since there is no sales tax.

Along the way there are several sites that are part of the Lewis and Clark National and State Historic Parks, but we wanted to first find a home and settle in before we took our time exploring the peninsula. The sun was a weak, watery orb as we stopped again at the local Visitor Information Center.

The night before we had looked up all the Passport America and CampClub USA parks in the vicinity, and with more than 70 advertised RV parks in the area, we found just three that were club members. Of course, some parks understand the switch between CampClub and Passport, but others do not. We decided on a park called “Driftwood”, but I followed Laurie’s advice and checked out the reviews first. Hmmmm. Maybe not.

We then decided it would be better to be a little bit north of town rather than in a crowded park filled with old trailers, dogs, and junk. Our choice was perfect. Pacific Holiday Sunrise Resorts was just north of town a couple of miles, but on the ocean side of the highway, very quiet and clean, spacious, and almost empty. We paid the $15. half price fee, the $1.70 state sales tax, and a $3.00 resort fee for full hookups with great cable TV.

After a quick setup and lunch, we decided to drive north on the peninsula to explore what is touted as the World’s Longest Beach. A quick check later on the internet confirmed it is the longest US beach, and the longest drivable beach, but the hundred mile long beach in Bangladesh far outdoes the 28 miles of sand stretching north from Cape Disappointment.

We drove the back road closest to the water, but most of it was blocked from access by beachfront homes and no access signs. Finally we found a small path, and parked the car to brave the winds for some beach walking with Abby. It was really windy, and chilly, but we were determined to enjoy this beach! It was a bit disconcerting to have to move out of the way of the occasional car or truck driving along the frothy surf, but that was nothing compared to the dog scare.

Suddenly from nowhere, over a big sand dune, came two large aggressive dogs, barking and growling, hackles raised, circling Mo and Abby and threatening them. I am terrified of these kinds of dogs when they aren’t under control, but Mo kept her head and kept telling them, “Go Home!!”. They would listen for a minute then come back in and growl at Abby. Mo just kept being aggressive back, her only weapon was the plastic throwing stick for Abby’s ball. Abby seemed to be oblivious, and kept wanting to check them out. My knees were shaking, and I stayed behind Mo the whole time, but neither of us could turn our backs on them because they would come rushing back at us. Eventually they gave up, scared off by Mo’s alpha dog attitude and big green plastic stick. For me, however, the walk was ruined and I was ready to get back in the car for the rest of the explorations.

We continued driving north along the peninsula, where there were many beachfront houses, most of them empty, and the whole place seemed very uninviting. Driving to the bay side, we wandered as far north as the road allowed to Leadbetter State Park and the tiny historic town of Oysterville. A long drive back down the bayside of the peninsula was not particularly interesting and we decided to continue south to Cape Disappointment State Park.

For me, this was the goal of the journey. I wanted to look out over the Pacific the same way those two great explorers did back in 1805. I wanted to see what they saw and read more about their travels at what promised to be a beautiful visitor center high above the ocean with a view of the Cape Disappointment lighthouse. At the southern end of the peninsula, the road climbs steeply into the park, and the first side road leads to a view of the North Head lighthouse. Both of these lights are beautiful and historic, with North Head established in 1898 and the Cape Disappointment lighthouse in 1856.

The trail to North Head was just a short one but the view was spectacular. There were some cars out on the entry road and a flurry of activity that had us wondering what was happening. The coast guard was doing some rescue training and we were at the right place at the right time to watch their amazing maneuvers on the cliffs below us. The young man in the photo was a 6 year veteran of the coast guard and was a delight to talk to about his career. Watching him rappel down from the copter was more fun since we had talked to him beforehand. I know there are a couple of my blog readers who are coast guard retirees, so I thought you might like these photos. The winds were blowing hard and I was amazed at how steady the helicopter pilot kept that bird hanging in the air during the rescue practice.

We continued through the park to the beautiful interpretive center where there are beautiful trails leading to viewpoints and to the lovely black and white Cape Disappointment lighthouse overlooking the confluence of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean. In addition to our $10. state park entry fee (inside a National Park where our Golden Age Pass didn’t work), there is an additional $5. fee to go into the center. Mo chose to look at the views while I went in and learned even more about the expedition. This time, there were even a few stories of the journey home, another two years. Lewis’s first comment on arriving in St. Louis was to ask if his mother was still living. Clark probably said something like “Hi Honey, I’m Home” to his long suffering wife who hadn’t seen him in four years!

New exhibits at the center provide interpretation of the entire route, but focused on the Corp’s of Discovery’s pioneering exploration of the Columbia River in 1805 and 1806. The romance of this wonderful place seeped in deep enough that Mo and I bought a beautiful poster of the park highlights depicted in old fashioned post card style art to frame for our office at home.

We went home to our cozy rig for a bbq salmon supper, with a nice picnic table to hold the bbq and no rain to spoil it. We did, however, eat inside while watching the sunset. We were both pretty worn out from all the moving and traveling and dogs and cold winds so it was with great pleasure we settled in for an early evening of reading and some good television.

Friday morning we planned to travel south, moving quickly to get back to Brookings by Saturday afternoon, ahead of the predicted bad weather to come. But first we wanted to make an attempt to find some of the murals that were touted in a brochure we had received from the visitor center. On our first drive though Ocean Park we didn’t see a thing, but there was time to look again before we headed back south. We drove back and forth through town, to no avail. The places listed in the brochure were nowhere to be found, and stops in a couple of local shops were no help, with folks saying they had never heard of the murals.

I finally found a local guy raking some gravel and he told me that the Ole’s Nook Tavern had been sold several years ago and the mural painted over. The Sentry Market was now Thriftway, and that mural had also been painted over. Looking closer, we discovered the brochure was printed in 1995! We later found this website that would have been more helpful when we were looking, the Walking Tour of Ocean Park. On the way back through Long Beach, Seaside, and Ilwaco, we did find a few of the listed murals, however, some in great shape and some seriously faded. We even found one on the back side of Highway 103 that wasn’t listed in the brochure.

The other cool thing to look for in Ocean Beach are houses made from old shipwrecks washed ashore. Our newly found local friend Bob Bodine, 55 year resident of the area, told us where to go to find them. The craziest was called the “Door House”, and it was exactly that, a house made from doors from an old shipwreck. Bob mourned the loss of many of these historic places, saying that the new folks coming in didn’t care any more about the history of the place and many of these houses were being torn down. I’m glad we got to see them before that happened.

We knew that more than 200 miles were between us and our Eugene destination, but were glad to take the time to ferret out a bit of local history before we left Long Beach and headed south.

NOTE: All my photos are now stored on Google/Picasa, but I think the Picasa link on the left side of this blog page gets you there. If you are a Google Plus user you have probably seen then roll by. Now when I upload photos from Picasa, they go directly to Google Photos and are shared via Google Plus. I still have no idea how to share photos with folks that read the blog but aren’t necessarily on a shared list. I would have to make the album fully public to do that I think, and can only do that from Picasa. Google Plus requires “sharing”. Ack!! The whole thing makes me crazy. I also have photos from the past on SmugMug but because of bandwidth, I don’t upload everything there.

Tomorrow: The mall at Eugene, breakfast with Russ and Donna, and back to Brookings where we finally had our campfire!