Long, long day on the road today. Started out early from my rest area just south of El Paso Texas. The highway there parallels the Rio Grande river for about a 100 miles, and it is nice to see all the fields and orchards along the road. I-10 soon takes off and heads nearly due east however, and for the next 200+/- miles it is mostly pretty flat and featureless. Just miles and miles of mesquite and rabbit brush and not much else. There are mountains sticking up here and there along the way, most likely some remnant of some volcanic action many years ago, but it just wasn't that interesting to look at, and there aren't even that many signs of humans about. A small town here and there, a few scattered houses, some occupied.... most not.
   By mid afternoon the landscape had changed to a more broken, rolling hill type of topography. Vegetation also increased to where there were scrub oak mixed in with the mesquite. An hour or two further and the hills were covered with mostly juniper and cedars, very reminiscent of much of far western Colorado.
    So more than 400 miles today and now I'm sitting in a truck stop waiting for it to get late enough for me to go to bed. One of the problems is that I passed through another time zone around noon, so it is now effectively 2 hours later than I am use to. My watch says it is now 8:15, but my body and mind still think it is only 6:00... it may be a long night of reading for me.
    I am also now backed into the back lot of a truck stop in, what I think is, Junction Texas. I have never stayed in a truck stop before, but there are only a few trucks here so far this evening, and there are plenty of empty spots around. So I am going to give it a shot and hope for the best.
   Turns out that I am only a little more than 100 miles away from the state park I want to stay in tomorrow night. My plan, if they have any openings, is to spend 3 nights there and just relax for a couple of days. The park itself looks kind of interesting as it is located along the Guadeloupe River, but it is also less than 45 miles from San Antonio, home of the Alamo and the River Walk. So the plan is to spend Sunday in town and see if I can see at least those two sights. It would also be nice to sit down to a real nice meal of Mexican food. I'm thinking tamales would be nice. Not quite turkey and dressing, but not too bad either.


brk*

   Two more long days of travel have put me all the way over on the border between New Mexico and Texas. Went through the town of Las Cruces, NM just a short time ago, and the town of El Paso, TX is next up on the map, at least as far as larger cities go.
   Yesterday was a pretty long day for me. I kept going south on hwy 95 out of Parker AZ until I made it all the way down to the intersection of it with I-8. Along the way there was plenty of open vistas with lots of real craggy type mountains scattered about. Evidently the remanents of old volcanoes that had erupted out of cracks in an even older seabed. They weren't all that tall, but very photogenic.... so I even stopped and took a few pictures. One thing that really surprised me was all of the trailers and RV's that had simply pulled off the highway a few hundred yards and set up camp amongst the cactus and mesquite. Some had solar panels set up on their roofs or next to their units and some had plastic water carriers and extra large propane tanks also, so they were all set to spend weeks or even months in the area.
   I got into Yuma AZ around two in the afternoon after passing many, many miles of fields growing veggies of all kinds. A short list would include lettuce of assorted kinds, spinach, broccoli, cabbage and green onions as well as fields growing hay and nut and citrus orchards. It is always amazing to me to see so much being grown in what was once a desert if you just add a little water.
   Turning east I headed for Tuscan thinking that somewhere along the line I would run into a rest area of some kind to spend the night in. But there wasn't a single place along the way other than the Border Patrol station we all had to drive through just to the east of town. It wasn't until a good 100 miles east of Tuscan before I finally found an open rest area to stop at. Since it was after 9:00 when I pulled in, all of the spaces had already filled with sleepy truckers. I did manage to find one spot on the entrance road in however that didn't have a truck parked in it. I had a small bite to eat, just some cheese and crackers and some home canned tuna that my friends in Oregon had given me. It was the most amazing stuff... certainly not anything like canned tuna. I had a hard time putting it down, but even I fill up after awhile. It was a little noisy where I was parked as trucks continued to pass through, but I slept well even though it was an hour later this morning because of the time change I passed through.
    It has been a pretty easy day to travel today as the roads are nearly empty except for the truckers who didn't make it home in time for Thanksgiving. I did have a 20-25 mph headwind for most of the morning, which really sucked as far as gas mileage goes. Instead of a steady 60-65 mph rate of travel the truck now thought I was trying to do 90 and adjusted the rate of gas consumption accordingly. Let me just say that I am happy that the cost of gas has come down so much in the past couple of months.
   So I hope to go another 60 miles before pulling in for the night. I guess it would be nicer to be having dinner with family or friends on this day, but really it isn't that big of a deal for me. I just keep remembering that the past 4-5 Thanksgivings were spent sitting on a beach in Florida sipping margarita's and reading a book. Guess I will just have to postpone it until another day.




brk*

    Was up and away from the Campground there in Sacramento pretty early. Unfortunately for me the layout of the campground was such that to dump my trailer tanks would of required me to exit the campground, drive down the road a mile or so, turn around and then drive back in to the campground and access the upper level of the park, which is where the dump station was. Since there was only a couple of days worth of 'stuff' in the tanks, I just blew it off and headed on down the highway.
   It was a wonderful drive south through the valley with its miles and miles of nut and citrus orchards and nearly endless plats of vegetable fields. By late afternoon I was turning off I-5 and taking a secondary highway over to Bakersfield. It was a little tricky working my way through that town in the dark, right at rush hour, but it wasn't long before the road went back to 4 lanes and the traffic lightened up. Heading more east than south now it wasn't long before the truck was headed up the west side of Tehachapi Pass, essentially the pass over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Taking a short break at the top to gas up the truck and get some dinner, it was cold again. Obviously a function of the elevation as well as the clear desert sky.
   Descending on the east side puts you out onto the 'floor' of the Mojave Desert where there isn't much of anything to see at night. In the distance you catch sight of Edwards Air Force Base, as well as miles and miles and miles of blinky red landing lights stretching off into nowhere.
   Spent that night in a rest area just west of Barstow, it was noisy but otherwise a good place to spend the night and get some sleep. It meant being up early yesterday morning however, so my start was pretty quick out of there. On the move again it wasn't long before I hit I-40 east. That highway actually takes you out through the 'real' Mojave Desert, so mostly a lot of empty space stretching off to the horizon. It is pretty in it's own way however, lots of cactus and Joshua trees growing everywhere, as well as craggy mountains sticking up all over the place. It was a pleasant drive with me and the road and some good tunes coming from the I-pod.
     Got into Needles late in the afternoon and had some lunch before going across the Colorado River and into the state of Arizona. I had turned into a McDonalds there and realized it was the same one my mom and I had stopped at many years ago on the road trip we went on together out to San Diego and back. It was a pleasant memory and I had shake in her honor.
  Turning south again just over the border with Arizona, I have been following the Colorado River south since then. Went through the town of Lake Havasu as the afternoon sun was dropping. I had no idea that a town that large was huddled along the shore of the lake and river. It took quite a while to get through town and along the way I got a chance to view the real London Bridge where they had moved it too.
  Right as the last rays of daylight were going down to the west, I ran across a nice little State Park right on the shores of Lake Havasu. Since it was getting dark anyway, and because a hot shower sounded really good to me I pulled in, got everything hooked up and grabbed a bite to eat for dinner before heading off to the showers. Used the ones in the campground instead of the one in the trailer because the campground ones were bigger, had tons of hot water... and did I mention they were bigger. It was wonderful to be clean again and finally able to relax from a long day of driving. Since there wasn't any phone or WiFi signal of any kind down in the canyon I just pulled out the Kindle and read for a couple of hours.
   Up early again this morning. It was pretty easy packing up as there wasn't much gear pulled out last night and I didn't even unhook the trailer. I did take enough time to go take another deliciously hot shower and to dump the trailer tanks before getting back on the road. I think I'm in the town of Parker right now, but to be honest there haven't been any signs so that is just a guess on my part. Pulled in to McDonalds to get on line and grab some food. Nearly done here however and it will soon be time to get back on the road. I'll be headed south again, the idea is to make it all the way down to I-8 and then turn east once again. Not sure how far I'll get today, but half the fun, as always, is in the journey.




brk*

   It has been a couple of pretty busy days lately so there hasn't been much time to sit down and write very much. It really started on Friday night when I went over to my cousins place and had a very pleasant dinner with her and her husband. Willie, Gray and I ate way to much of Willie's home made chili, and consumed more wine than we should. But I had a wonderful time catching up on family information and gossip and it was so much fun that we decided to do it all again last night... which we did.
   There was more to yesterday than just dinner however. I started out over at the California Railroad Museum just before noon. It is located just down hill from the state capital building, in an area known as 'Old' Sacramento. I don't actually know if that area was the site of the original town, but my guess is that it was probably part of it, just based on the location there on the banks of the Sacramento and Feather Rivers. Now though, the buildings are all being used as small specialty stores as well as various styles of restaurants. Kind of a neat little area if you like shopping, but I didn't spend much time there.
  But getting back to the RR Museum; I ended up spending nearly 4 hours wandering around the exhibits, climbing on loco's and cars, reading all the placards. I could of spent more time there, except that my feet were wearing out and my stomach was starting to growl in hunger. I am still of the opinion that not only is this the best RR Museum that I have ever spent time in, but it is also one of the best Museums over all that I have ever visited. Anyone who gets a chance should go and visit.
   I took lots of pictures and hope to have some of them ready to post within a day or two. In this case there are lots of pictures of these stunning full sized locomotives and cars, all of them beautifully redone to show them off as they would of been while still working.... but much, much cleaner. I will wait and let the photos tell the story later on though.
    Once done with the museum it was off to find some much needed lunch. What I found was a Chipoltle restaurant over in a strip mall. It may not be real Mexican food, but it was close enough for me at that moment. I sat and read my book and took my time eating a nice chicken bowl.
    Finishing up there I walked over to the Home Depot next door and picked up a new hose fitting to replace the male end on the hose I use for the trailer. It has been leaking for the last couple of months no matter what fix I tried to do. In other words... duct tape wasn't going to fix it good enough. I'll get the new fitting installed at some point in the future when I actually have a little bit of time to actually do the work.
    Dinner last night was roasted chicken and root veggies and salad. Willie and Grays daughter, son in law and grand daughter also made it over for the meal, so it was another fun filled family affair. The food was excellent and there was more wine to consume with it of course. It's fun to spend time with them and get a chance to talk.
    I was up and on the road to San Fransisco by 11:00 this morning. I was going into the city to have a late lunch with my niece/god daughter, Erin, and possibly a couple of her friends. I drove in to the Pleasant Hill BART station and grabbed a train into the city from there. I use to take the train from that station nearly every day when I lived out here between 1988 and 92. The trains seem to be pretty much the same, but I certainly didn't recognize much of the area around the station. Where there once was a large open parking lot is now a series of 4-6 story condo's, and the rest of the parking lot is now a 6 story parking garage with thousands of spaces. I had no problem finding a place to park at least, and for good measure, parking is free on the weekends.
    The train into town only took 30-40 minutes, and it was fun to look out the window as it passed familier and not so familier places along the way. Erin had told me to meet her at the Union Station when I got there, so I figured she meant the one that was named Civic Center/U.N. Plaza since there was nothing that had a name with Union in it. Turns out that what she meant was to meet her at the station closest to Union Park, a nice inner city park about 8 blocks off the train route. So we didn't meet up perfectly, but the stations are only about 4 blocks apart, so it was easy enough for them to walk down and meet me. I got there a little early anyway so I spent the extra time wandering around the farmers market that sets up there in the U.N. Plaza park every Wednesday and Sunday afternoon. So much beautiful produce and fruit, fresh eggs and fish, flowers, honey, dates and nuts of all kinds. What surprised me was that a lot of it was  priced pretty low I thought. If there had been some way to keep it, and then use it, I would of been buying a whole bunch of stuff today.... starting off with a couple veggies and fruit that I hadn't even seen before.
   I finally got a text from Erin and we worked out so that they would walk up to where I was instead of trying to meet somewhere in the middle. When I say they, that means that not only Erin came, but also her collage roommate Lily and another good friend of theirs Alyssa. Once we connected up we all wandered back down towards the Powell Street station and turned into the city and walked up the hill to O'Farrel street. They all knew of a little hole-in-the-wall Thai place near the corner there, and we all went in to have some dinner. I was starved by that time having had nothing since breakfast so it sounded like a great idea to me.
    We had a fun time sitting there for better than an hour chowing down and talking. The food was good but mostly I just sat there and let the conversation from 3 young, active and excited women just wash over me. They were polite enough to actually let me join into their conversation any time I felt like it, but it was just a real kick to sit back and listen to their excited chatter. It makes me think there is still hope for this planet after all.
    It was a nice drive back to the trailer afterwards. Tomorrow I will be pulling up stakes once again and heading on down the highway. Had thought about stopping somewhere down south and driving in to see some more family along the way, but I am starting to feel a bit pressed for time now, and I really just want to be on the road and heading east. There will be a few stops along the way of course, but I am hoping to be into Florida again by late next week, or early in the week after. Right now though it's time to go drink some tea and read a few chapters in my book.


brk*

   Managed to make it into the Sacramento area yesterday afternoon having spent the proceeding night in another rest area north of the city on I-5. I sat in a McDonalds for most of yesterdays morning while the rain continued to come down and I waited for an RV campground to get back to me and let me know if they had a space for the trailer. They finally called me back up around 1:00 p.m. and let me know they had plenty of room... I just needed to get there and get set up.
    It was rush hour when I finally got back into the city. Six lanes of traffic with everyone trying to get home after a long day of work. It is always interesting towing the trailer through  such a maelstrom of craziness.  I still only missed one turn off during my run in. I just couldn't make it across 3 lanes of traffic in time to make the turnoff, but it only meant going down to the next exit and turning around. It was still a hassle though.
   I did finally make it into the campground and found a spot to set up in. I am on a bank about 30 feet above the Sacramento River, so it is quite scenic. Hard to believe it is less than 5 miles to the downtown area. It isn't the most pristine camp I have ever been in, but it should work just fine for a couple of days.
    I had to block the trailer up on some 2x's to level it up, as well as use some chocks to keep it from running down hill when I unhitched. Once done with that I got the hot water heater and electric heaters turned on. Felt pretty good to get a hot shower and clean up a little bit. It was important as one of my close cousins and her husband had asked me over to dinner with them last night.
   Spent several pleasant hours over with them drinking some good wine, eating some good food and having some great conversation. A very enjoyable evening all in all.
   Off to see the California Railroad Museum next. I haven't been here for more than 20 years so I am very excited about going again. As I recall, not only was this a really nice railroad museum, but in general it was one of the best museums of any kind I have ever visited. It is very exciting so I need to get going.
 

Throw Back Thursday

I am also on Face Book a lot and recently a lot of people have been loading up old photo's of themselves on what has become known as 'Throw Back Thursday' of TBT for short. I don't always post something, but I thought it might be nice to actually post a picture of myself, even if it is more than 40 years old.... This one is from 1974-1976 I believe. This is based on the fact that there is no beard in this picture, something I started growing when I joined the U.S. Coast Guard in 1977. I think this one is appropriate for this week when so many of my friends up in the north and eastern states are dealing with record snowfall. Please stay safe and warm everyone.

brk*

   It's raining again, or should I just say... still! I suppose it could be worse, it could be soft and white and cold and needing to be shoveled, but lucky for me, it is just coming down in liquid form... and it is even quite warm out at the moment.
    I left Eugene early yesterday morning with the temperature in the low 20's, and drove south up and over the mountains on the border, and on into northern California. By dark I had passed by Mt Shasta and was starting into the northern reaches of  California's Great, or Grand Valley. I'm never sure which one it is. What I do know is that nearly 90% of the produce in grocery stores in the U.S. is grown somewhere along this vast open plain. Today I went by miles and miles of olive and hazel nut groves among other growing things.
   I spent last night in a rest area somewhere around the town of Red Bluff. Other than a noisy freeway right next to the parking area, it wasn't too bad of an evening. I read until the battery in the Kindle died and then hit the rack. Not nearly as cold as it has been the last few nights, but I woke up to raindrops on the roof around 6:00 a.m. this morning.
   Given the drought California has been going through for the last few years, this is probably pretty good news for them, so I won't complain too much about it. Still.....
    I'm currently holed up in a McDonalds somewhere along the road to Sacramento. Nearly done here though so I'll soon be back on the road south. Hope to find a nice spot close in to the city this afternoon and then stay a few days. There are lots of things I want to see in the area as well as a few friends and relatives to visit with if it all works out. I've really noticed how the time is going by though. What once seemed like nearly unlimited days of travel have now shrunk down to only 3+ weeks left before I need to be in Florida. I may have to rethink a few things that were once planned, but that can happen later. Right now it's time to go find a place to hunker down and stay dry.


brk*

   Nearly three whole days of sunshine so far... so of course now I'm complaining about it being cold. What a whiner!
    I took off from Coos Bay yesterday morning and headed back north and then east to the town of Eugene. It was a spectacular drive as the highway wound out around all the bends of the Umpqua River as I headed up into the higher elevations of the coast range. I had never been up this highway before so it was a double treat for me as it was absolutely beautiful. The river was a surprise just in how large and wide it was, and how long and far that size carried east. I finally left it at a split in the highway and it turned slightly south of where I was headed. Even then the river was still more than big enough to boat on although I had been seeing more and more large sets of rapids that would of been a bit of a challenge in an open canoe.
    It was cold when I started up in the morning and I fully expected to see snow on the ground as the road went higher. But there wasn't any left on the ground, if it had ever been there, but there was this amazing amount of frost on the grass and tree tips. Very silvery.
    I pulled into my campground around 3:00 in the afternoon and found plenty of spaces to choose from. The campground is in 'Armitage County Park just north of Eugene. It is a beautiful little park right on the border with town, and it sits on one bank of the McKenzie River. I got the trailer set up with no problem, and then took a short walk around the park just to work the kinks out before heading inside for the evening. Once the sun went down it got really cold in a hurry. By the time I finally went too bed the outside temperature was down to 28 degrees. Later in the night, when I got up to turn the heaters onto a higher setting, I ended up going outside and turning the water off and disconnecting the hose, as it had already frozen pretty solid.
    I remained nice and warm and cozy in my little man cave however, but it was a real trial getting up this morning when the outside temperature was down at 24 degrees and the inside one was only 50. Brrr indeed!
    Needless to say, I haven't been doing a whole lot today. I've hung out inside and watched the news and read the comics and did a couple crosswords. I did manage to find a couple of RV parks down near Sacramento so I should be good to go when I arrive there.
    I also blew out all the water lines and turned the water heater on so it wouldn't freeze. Unfortunately there is no running water in the trailer at this time so I ended up going over to the campground shower house for one of those. That was not a bad deal either, as they are nearly brand new and, other than the cold concrete floor, where very nice single unit bathroom/showers. The park did put a timer on the shower to control how long you could be in, but at 9 minutes there was plenty of time to clean up well. Plus the water was steamy hot and the shower was big enough to actually turn around in.
    There is a contra dance scheduled for later on this evening. The Great Bear Trio will be playing while George Marshall will be doing the calling. I am sure there will be a couple of people here that I will at least recognize if not know outright. I have now danced enough times in Oregon that I have managed to dance with a lot of the regulars. Plus there are always those other dance gypsies that travel to other dance weekends. Either way I am sure it is going to be fun.
    The plan for tomorrow is to pack up and head south as soon as possible in the morning. I doubt I'll make it all the way into Sacramento tomorrow, but I will at least make it as far as Redding I would think. With any luck I'll be holed up in a rest area far south of here and much, much warmer.


brk*

( Sorry... thought I had posted this, but evidently not. So here is the one from Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014)  


  Yea! It turned off sunny this morning..... very cold, but at least the sun is out. I hung out at the trailer for a couple hours drinking hot tea, but finally made it outside around 10:00. I ended up just walking down to the beach there at the campground. It isn't a very big, or long beach but when the ocean is as calm as it was this morning it does have this one section over on the north side that has a whole bunch of tide pools to look at. I had a great time looking at the starfish and poking sea anemonies. Of course there was that one time my foot slipped off the rock and right into the water up to nearly my knee. Brrrr!
    So that is what has been going on so far today. I'm now in the library once again where I have already checked on a campsite for tomorrow in Eugene.  Will stay there for a couple of nights before heading south and, what I hope, are some warmer temperatures.
   Right now though I want to finish up here and then head out for a movie. There is one called 'John Wick' playing at 4:10 and I need to get the heck out of here. But first, a couple of pictures from more than a month ago up in Washington state near the town of Morton.

Old Barns near Morton Washington - Oct 9, 2014

Your basic old red barn.

 

 

 

I like the setting for this barn.

 

brk*

   Wow... I'm starting to get tired of talking about all the rain out here in the NW. Seems like it has been going on forever, when really it has only been about a month and a half. And even then there were 4-5 days when it actually cleared off and the sun came out. But the truth is that it is starting to get a little old now. I still have plenty of books to read, movies to watch and models to build, but I am really starting to miss being outside a lot. I still manage to go out every day still and at least take a short walk, but when the rain is coming down in sheets, it just isn't fun any more. I think it is time to make a major change in location.
   So with that in mind, the new plan is to pick up on Sunday morning like I had planned. But rather than continue down the coast, with it's constant rain, I am going to head back up to Eugene for a couple of days instead. This may or may not get me out of the rain, but since I have used up so much time waiting for the weather to at least clear enough to hook the trailer up, it is now close enough to wait and go to the special contra dance over in Eugene on Monday night. That is when George Marshall will be calling to the tunes of Great Bear Trio. I can hardly wait.
    I'll only stay long enough in the area to do the dance, and then the plan is to hop on I-5 and head straight south to the town of Sacramento, CA. I hope by that time the sun may have come out once again.
   So it is still raining here, but it is suppose to start to let up starting this evening, so we will see. In the mean time I'm looking at maybe finding a movie to go see. I made a whole pot of home made soup last night and there is plenty of that left for dinner tonight. But I think I'll add in some dumplings tonight and make it even better.... so now I'm hungry.


brk*

   So plans have changed since last night... The radio was just full of reports on the nasty weather that was coming into Oregon and Northern California for the next couple of days. Endless rain, 3"-6" total, high winds, cold and even snow in parts of the coast range and Sierras. And it did indeed start to rain last night around 9:00 p.m. and pretty much hasn't stopped since then.
    It was coming down pretty good this morning when I got up, and even though I had prepared to leave and head south, it just didn't sound like much fun to me. So I didn't! Instead I trotted down to the park kiosk and signed up for another three nights here, in the hopes that the weather would abate somewhat before Sunday morning.
   All in all it seems to have been a good decision as it hasn't really stopped raining since then. There have been a few moments when it has been raining less hard, but it is quite damp outside and looks like it will continue to be that way for at least one more, and likely two more, days. So I just hung out for awhile this morning drinking lots of hot tea and reading and such. But there was a short lull in the heavy rain and I ran out and got in the truck and headed out for adventure anyway.
   My destination today was the Dean River State Park just to the east of the town of Reedsport. It's one and only claim to fame is that it has a resident elk herd in the area that likes to hang out in the meadows right there along the river and the highway. And indeed they were there this morning. At least 100-120 of them were out feeding and bedded down out in a meadow a hundred, to several hundred, yards away from the viewing platform. Most of them were cows and this years calves, but there were a good twenty or so bulls that were mostly bedded down nearby too.
    These are all Roosevelt elk out here, one of six subspecies, and supposedly the largest, of all of them. While there were a couple of decent 6x6 bulls out there in plain sight, none of them even came close to approaching the shear size, weight and antler size of some I have seen back in Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming. Still; it was fun to sit in the truck and watch them all with the binoculars as the rain came down in a steady drizzle. I stayed for about an hour and watched as some got up and foraged and others laid down to chew their cuds. I did take a few pictures, but I'm not sure how they will turn out. It was pretty misty and they were out there quite a ways.
   Otherwise it has been pretty slow around here. I returned to Coos Bay and had some lunch and then just headed over to the library to hang out. It's nice and warm and dry and they have free internet, so it hasn't been to big of a deal. I will need to find another book or two however if this keeps up for any time.

Cape Blanco Lighthouse near Port Orford, Oregon  

Nov 8, 2014

Standing on a point more than 200 feet above the ocean Cape Blanco gets its name from the white cliffs it sits on. The circular, brick tower rises to a height of fifty feet, and an oil room is attached to its base. A two-story, brick duplex, with seven rooms on each side, was built 125 feet south of the tower. The principal keeper was assigned one side, while the two assistants shared the other. These buildings have long since been torn down.   

The fixed white light from the tower's first-order, Fresnel lens was first lit on December 20, 1870. With a focal plane of 250 feet, the light could be see from up to twenty-three miles at sea.

Supplies for the lighthouse had to be landed on the beach south of the station until a 7,000-foot roadway was built in 1885 to link up with the county road leading to Port Orford, the nearest landing. In 1888, mineral-oil lamps replaced the lard-oil lamps used inside the lens, and in 1890 a detached brick oil house was built to store the more volatile fuel. 

 

Around 1912, a hood was placed around the lamp, and a clockwork mechanism was used to raise and lower the hood to produce the following flashing signature: two-second eclipse, light for three seconds, two-second eclipse, light for thirteen seconds. In 1936, the original lens was replaced by a second-order revolving lens with eight bull's-eyes. The new lens, rotated by an electric motor powered by a generator, produced a white flash every twenty seconds. The motor and lens are still operating in the tower today. 

The station was automated and de-staffed in 1980. Twelve years later, two local teenagers broke into the lighthouse and, using a sledgehammer, smashed one of the lens' bull's-eyes and six smaller prisms. The boys were eventually apprehended and convicted. After a nation-wide search, Larry Hardin, of Hardin Optical Company in nearby Bandon, was selected to repair the lens. By the spring of 1994, the lens had been restored using Corning Pyrex, at a cost of $80,000. 

 

 

The view from the top of the cliff near the lighthouse.

One last view......   Note: All of the relevant information about this and other lighthouses has been taken from the web site:  Lighthousefriends. com  It is a good website if you are at all interested in visiting a lighthouse anywhere in the U.S. or Canada.

brk*



  Today, or at least this morning, was all about laundry. I'm lucky I guess to own enough clothing that laundry isn't a once a day or even once a week thing for me, but closer too a once a month thing. It's easy enough to do if what you normally wear are shorts, polo shirts and sockless sandals. It just means having enough underwear for a month and enough other clothing to change into as needed. Yes I do wear my shirts and shorts more than one day, unless I've been dancing in them or playing in the mud. With that all being said though, I still hate having to go out and find a coin operated laundry and spend an hour or two sitting around the place. It does mean having some extra time to read a magazine or book of course, and there are always interesting people around to watch or even chat to, but it would be better if it only had to be done bi-monthly or even semi annually.

   But enough of my complaining, as it has actually been a pretty good day over all. It all started out by spending an hour or so walking on a local beach before then driving along a coastal road and stopping at every pull out along the way. One rest area in particular was extra scenic because of all the rocks and sea stacks just below the cliffs. There were also the hundreds of  Harbor, California and Stellar Seals and Sea Lions that were pulled out on every available spot. The only thing missing were Elephant Seals; just not the right time of year for them I guess.

    The whole laundry chore happened after that pleasant interlude, but it didn't take that long to do 3 loads of laundry and besides I then went and found a really nice little café afterwards for some much needed lunch. The Sea Grotto restaurant is perched on the wharf over looking the fishing boat docks out in Charleston Harbor and it was the perfect place to find a melted cheese and Dungeness crab sandwich with piping hot fries and ice cold tea.

    As it is now growing colder outside, and looking like it will soon start to rain, I'm holed up in the local library finishing up some work on some photos, as well as dealing with a few last minute paperwork issues that have cropped up. In the morning I'll be packing up the trailer and moving down the coast to the redwood forests of northern California. The plan is to spend a couple of days there and then gradually work my way further south before turning a bit east and heading for Sacramento. But that is still pretty far off in time, so I'll worry about doing some last minute shopping this evening then picking up the trailer tonight and hoping it isn't raining to much in the morning when I have to hitch everything up.

 Coquille River (Bandon) Lighthouse - Nov 8, 2014

Congress appropriated $50,000 for the building of this lighthouse, and then began construction of it on March 3, 1891.

The workers first leveled the top of what is known as Rackliff Rock, an outcrop along side the river to provide a base for the lighthouse and oil house. Local stone was cut to form the structure’s foundation, while the lighthouse itself was built of brick, covered with a layer of stucco. The design was unique with a cylindrical tower attached to the east side of an elongated, octagonal room, which housed the fog signal equipment. 

 The fourth-order Fresnel lens was first shown from the tower on February 29, 1896. The lens produced a fixed white light, but an occulting apparatus raised and lowered a brass cylinder around the lamp's chimney to show light for twenty-eight seconds followed by a two-second eclipse. The first-class fog trumpet emitted a five-second blast every thirty seconds as needed. In 1907, oil engines powering a compressed-air plant replaced the steam plant originally used to power the fog signal.

In 1939, the Coast Guard assumed responsibility for Coquille River Lighthouse and decided it was no longer needed. An automated light was placed at the end of the south jetty, the dwelling was disassembled, and the lighthouse was abandoned. Bandon Lighthouse stood neglected for twenty-four years, until Bullards Beach State Park was created on the north side of the river. The grounds of the original eleven-acre light station were included in the park, and the park assumed responsibility for the lighthouse.

The lighthouse still looks pretty good at this point in time, but it will take a lot of money and effort to keep it in good shape for the future.

I rather like this view.

This one too.

This one isn't bad either.

A view from the rocks out in front of the lighthouse. I'm glad it was a calm day when I was there.

 Another view from the rocks along the river.

The last major restoration project was back in 2007. As you can see salt water and iron don't really mix very well.

brk*

    The dance last night in Corvallis was just what I needed, even if the drive up, and that oh so long drive back, were more than I bargained for. I got to thinking on the way back to Coos Bay after the dance that it had been more than 5 months since I had danced at a really good dance with a premiere band and caller. Now that is not meant to take anything away from the local dances in Colorado, Washington and here in Oregon, but it is different, and for the most part better, when the talent is just that little bit better.
   There was a good crowd of locals there, most of whom were pretty decent dancers. It may not of reached the level of a really good 3 day dance group, but it was nice to have a beginner only once or twice in a line of dancers rather than every other dancer. It also seems to help them along better also as they don't all dance together in a group and get lost in a mass tangle of chaos.
   That being said, George called some pretty fun, though mostly easy, dances and the band was right on as usual. Pretty high energy right from the start, so I managed to get my 10,000 steps for the day in pretty easily. The drive home was a little longer than I wanted. It was nearly 3:00 a.m. when I pulled into the campground and then another 20 minutes of reading and relaxing before I was slowed down enough to actually go to sleep. My normal rule for driving is to not drive any longer than the number of hours you will actually be dancing. I sort of broke that rule this time, but it was worth it. I just wish I was going to still be in the area next Monday night when George will be calling in Eugene with the Great Bear Trio playing.
    So it was late this morning before I was up and about. Spent a little while at the trailer eating breakfast and reading my book before heading over to the local Wally World to get the oil in the truck changed. I had actually let it slip a little longer than I usually do, so it was approaching nearly double the mileage I usually change it at, but well below the 10k to 15k the experts say you can let it go for. I still have a hard time going much past 4,000 and it seems to have helped keep the truck running pretty good. It was particularly nice to note that the oil level was down by less than 1/2 quart this time, even though the interval had been longer than usual. So I guess the work they did on it replacing the timing chains and all the seals a couple of months ago really helped.
    Not a bad day here weather wise. The sun is out, but it is darn cold outside, down below freezing last night in the campground, and even now it is only around 50 degrees outside. I think it is really time to be on the road and heading south again. Only one more full day here tomorrow and that will be mostly taken up with doing laundry and some routine maintenance around the trailer if it is nice. I remembered last night that it has also been longer than usual since I checked the trailer batteries fluid levels. It is one of those things you forget about when you are basically hooked up to shore power most of the time and not relying on your batteries to run anything. I also need to check the pressure in all of the tires and make sure that is set right. Maybe it will be warm enough again to go take a last walk on the beach before leaving the area.

Umpqua River Lighthouse near Florence Oregon - Nov 7, 2014

Located on a bluff  above the ocean and the entrance to the Umpqua River, the tower is sixty-five-feet tall and has a focal plane of 165 feet above sea level. The tower, consisting of brick overlaid with cement plaster, is five feet thick at the base and tapers to twenty-one inches at the parapet. 

The tower's first-order Fresnel lens, originally illuminated by a mineral oil lamp. The lens has twenty-four bull's-eye panels and completes a revolution every two minutes, producing a signature of two white flashes followed by a red flash. Every seventy minutes the keepers would have to wind up the weight that revolved the lens.

The light was automated in the 1960s and several of the outbuildings were torn down. Before automation, the light was active from one hour before sunset until one hour after sunrise, and curtains were drawn around the lantern room during the day to protect the lens from the sun. After the light was automated, it was left on twenty-four hours a day. Over time, the chariot wheels, on which the lens turned, wore out. When the Coast Guard talked of discontinuing the Fresnel lens and installing a modern optic, the community rose in outrage and took over maintenance of the light.

The area around the base of the lighthouse is still owned by the Coast Guard and they have built some housing for the people who are stationed at the small boat station in town. Unfortunately all of the other original buildings were torn down long ago.  



brk*

    A real quick post this evening because most of the day has been pretty routine, consisting mostly of driving from Coos Bay to Corvallis, while the evening will be taken up with a 3 hr. contra dance and then another long drive back to camp.
     So.... I've pretty much just talked about everything that has happened so far. It was a very nice drive up as the sun was back out today. I had thought it was suppose to turn off grey and cold and rainy because of a storm coming in from the north. But it turns out that it only turned out cold. I left the coast a little bit before noon and was into the town of Corvallis before 3:30.
    The dance will start at 7:00 this evening and is only going to run until 10:30 so I am going to figure on just driving back to the coast after the dance. But I am also going to reserve the possibility of finding a cheap hotel room afterwards if I feel like that is going to be to much.
   For now though I'm off to find a target store if one is around. Here is one photo from the other night when I was heading home to the campground after going to the Coos Bay contra dance.

Winchester Bay boats in the fog - Nov 2014

I got stopped one night on my way back to the campground from the local contra dance. A couple of fishing boats were making their way out to sea and the highway draw bridge decks had to be raised to accommodate their passage out. I just rolled down the window, braced the camera on the window sill and started snapping pictures. This one turned out the best and kind of gives you the eerie feel of the fog and the sodium vapor lamps they use on board the boats. The orange color is real, I just cropped the picture and cleaned up some of the fuzziness.

brk*

   It started out being a nice enough day this morning. Not exactly sunny out, but at least it wasn't raining. That has all changed since about noon, with it now raining pretty hard outside and no sign of it stopping any time soon. Oh well!
   I ended up going to the local contra dance last night as planned. It was held in an old Grange building out near the town of Coquille and would of been impossible to find without my GPS unit. The band was actually 10 members strong, and they put out some pretty good music to dance too. The caller was a local one, and he did a good job of calling good dances for a rather difficult group.
   The problem with the group was that about 2/3rds of the people there last night were brand new to dancing, and while contra is really pretty easy to learn and do, it helps if you have people next to you, and within your group, that know what they are doing and can help you along. Even if that means just pointing you in the right direction for the next maneuver.
   Talking to some of the regulars it appears that the night was a bit of an anomaly, as there are usually more experienced dancers at the dance. It seems likely though that many of them were attending a three day, weekend dance over east of Eugene. (Danceable Feast). It was still fun to do a little dancing again and like nearly always, there were a couple people there that I recognized from other dances I've been to. One I met only a couple of weeks ago at the Portland dance, but the other one is a friend of a friend from Colorado, and I had met her and her husband at one of the dances there.
   I stayed for about 3/4's of the evening, but finally just had to give it up for fear of getting hurt. There were a couple of newbies that were young and still exuberant and they were kind of scary. :)
    By that I mean they hopped or twisted in ways you really weren't expecting. I call people like that 'Tiggers' after the Winnie the Pooh character. They just kind of bounce their way up and down the line. They often wear down by the 2nd half of the dance and as a result are safer, and better dancers. But not last night for some reason.
    Anyway; the dancing was just enough last night to make me crave more, so I've decided that unless the weather is really crappy that I'll drive over to Corvallis tomorrow and go to the special dance they have going on there. It will be George Marshall and Wild Asparagus calling and playing so if nothing else, the talent will be really good. It will also be earlier in the evening since it is a week night so I may be able to actually drive back after the dance even. Will just have to see when that time comes however, as grabbing a cheap hotel for the night isn't a bad option either.
  That's about it for right now. There are some new photo's from a couple of days ago posted below. I'm glad I had at least a couple of good days to be out and about. Right now its back to the trailer again and another night of reading for me.

Cape Arago Lighthouse near Coos Bay Oregon - Nov 7, 2014

The Cape Arago Lighthouse stands about 100 feet above the ocean. First illuminated in 1934 it is located on an island just offshore from Gregory Point at the mouth of Coos Bay. Previous lighthouses had been built much earlier, but they all fell down due to weather and erosion.

The island is owned by several local Native American Tribes so the site is off limits to visitors. This view from a turnout near the campground I am staying at isn't too bad though.

On this side of the lighthouse is Sunset Bay. It may be sunny outside, but the waves were really kicking up against the rocks.

A few of the sea stacks and rocks at the mouth of Sunset Bay.

 

 

I switched over to a bigger telephoto for the next couple of pictures. It helps, but I really need to get one more that is a little bigger. Maybe a 300 mm or there about.

 

 

Last photo.

brk*

   Two days of warm sunny weather and I am really loving it down here in southern Oregon. Yesterday I was up and about pretty early, heading first to the beach just outside the campground entrance, and then up the road a couple of miles to a view point where you can see the Cape Arago Lighthouse from. I took lots of pictures of it and the bay out in front of it and even got the telephoto lens out to get a few shots of it closer up. Unfortunately that lighthouse actually sits off the coast a few hundred yards on a small island in the ocean. It also sits on land owned by one of the local Indian tribes in the area so it wouldn't be open to the public even if it was on the main land. I wish I had a longer telephoto lens, about 300 mm would do, but you can only do the best you can with what you have. So those photo's will be up in a day or two.
    From there I drove north out of town towards Reedsport. There is another lighthouse up there, the Umpqua Lighthouse, and it was in my mind to go and see that one also while the sun was out. Found that one with no problem and pretty much drove right up to it. It stands on a point of land above the entrance channel and bar for the Umpqua River. A very pretty little lighthouse, it is still owned and operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. In fact it is on their property and is surrounded by base housing for the people who are stationed there in Reedsport. I took lots of pictures of course and they will also be posted in a day or two.
    From there I was going to head on over to Eugene for a contra dance that night. I had thought that one of my favorite bands and callers was going to be in the area and holding a special dance for the local dance community. It turns out that Wild Asparagus with George Marshall were in the area, but it had been Thursday night, the night before, and not Friday night, that they were playing. So I am very glad to have stopped there in town to grab a quick bite to eat and to get directions to the dance hall before actually driving all the way over there. Instead I came back into the town of North Bend and tried to go to the local historical/maritime museum here. The only problem was that it was closed while they are moving everything into a new building somewhere else in the area.
   At that point I just gave up on doing anything else touristy and just went over to the library for a couple of hours. It was time to catch up on the news as well as deal with a bit of the paperwork stuff that has to get done every month. I'm pleased to note that I'm still solvent enough to keep doing this for a little while longer, even though I'm certainly never going to get rich from it.
   Today was another beautiful day here on the coast. You sometimes need a warm and sunny day to appreciate all those weeks of rain, as it is all that water that makes it so beautiful here when the sun does finally come out again. I went south this morning, going first to the Coquille Lighthouse down near the town of Bandon. A very nice little lighthouse that you can walk right up to. It is no longer owned by the CG and no longer functions as an actual aid to navigation. It still looks okay for the moment, but it will be needing some routine maintenance at some point if it is going to keep looking okay.
    From there I drove on down to the last official lighthouse on the Oregon coast, the one out on Cape Blanco. This one still works as a lighthouse and it is just a delightful small tower with attached oil room that stands on top of a point several hundred feet above the ocean. During the summer months you can drive right out to it, but after October they close off the last half mile or so of road and you have to hoof it out to the top of the point. The view out there is spectacular with lots of rocky 'sea stacks' and off shore shoals where waves are constantly breaking. I had a great time wandering around taking pictures as I seemed to be the only one who wanted to hike out that far today.
    I'm just hanging out at the moment, back here in North Bend at the local Library. Will try to get a few photo's loaded up so that I can post them over the next couple of days. There is suppose to be a local contra dance in Coos Bay this evening so I am going to go and give that a try. It probably won't be quite as good as one with Wild Asparagus playing, but live music is still a whole lot of fun to dance to.

Misc Photo's from around Newport Oregon - Nov 2014.

I love this house. It sits on the banks of the Siletz River just out side the town of Lincoln City Oregon and I drive by and take a picture of it nearly every time I'm in the area. It seems to be in good condition at the moment. A few years back it didn't look like it would make it for very much longer. You might recognize it from the movie 'Never Give an Inch' starring Paul Newman. The movie was based on a Ken Kesey novel called 'Sometimes a Great Notion'.

A foggy day on the Siletz River.

The city of Newport hosts hundreds of California Sea Lions during the winter these days. The are almost all bachelor males who come north to feed in the cold waters off the Oregon coast. In the spring they make the 1,000 mile trip back south to meet up and mate with the females. Or so the sign says.

They are a rather loud and raucous  crowd with their constant barking. Oh.... they also stink. Wet dogs have nothing on these guys.

They like to sleep on some of the docks and can be quite serene until one of them wants to turn over or move, then they all wake up and start barking at each other.

They can be rather cute though.

Look close and you will notice that about half of those lumps out there on the breakwater are actually sea lions.

Looking outbound at Newport's bridge over the Yaquina River. That is the Coast Guard station on the right hand side. 

A walk along the dockside street just at dusk. Had a cup of clam chowder just down the street and I thought this little bar look nice in the dim light and the fog that was starting to roll in.

brk*