Author: donhall930

We are now safely bedded down in our spot in Durango at my daughter’s little spread, Tomboy Farm. This is the site of our Critter Sitting episodes. We were supposed to arrive here on Sunday, wanting to see a few sights along the way but, I wanted to get a few things done on the motorhome and Lorelyn and Travis promised to take us to Weminuche Grille, one of favorite restaurants up in the mountains, so here we are!

For the most part all is good.

This can be compared to that old aviation saying,

“Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing”

I alluded to several issues with Miss Biggie that have popped up recently. These issues have given us reason enough to alter our plans and further our Travels, adding an additional Eastbound Leg to what was supposed to be a Final Stop in Texas.

Explanations, repairs, and some general additions to Posts of the Past will be the subject of today’s report.

I’ll start with the fact that wherever we go and visit, I usually snap around 100 to 150 photos. Some are terrible, some are ok, and some are Post Worthy. But with that number of pics to choose from, even of just the good ones, leaves too many other good ones “laying on the cutting room floor” to borrow a phrase from the movie industry. In addition, some of the places we’ve been to deserve their own Post and an in-depth one to boot! So…. I will present to you, in no particular order, some additional photos, and information about places we’ve recently visited.

But first, let’s get caught up on our Mechanical Mayhem.

The Big Slide-Out. This issue has not changed, and we elected not to take any chances on it totally fritzifying itself (meaning getting stuck in the “out” position) and we have not extended it since leaving Seeley Lake, Montana several weeks ago.

This is not a Life-Changing Event.

We can certainly survive with it in, we just don’t have much room and need to slink by each other as we walk from front to rear. It has also made our already “One Person Kitchen” into a “Half-Person Kitchen”.

So, on to New Jersey for repairs.

Everyone has been asking, “Can’t you get it repaired somewhere closer?”

The answer to that one comes with its own set of caveats.

The answer is Yes.

                        But……

                        Finding someone that works on what are called Super-Slides, (our slide-out is 28’ long) is extremely difficult. We could go back to Clear Lake, Iowa, the home of Winnebago and have them work on it.

                        Their next available appointment is sometime in the latter part of November.

                        That particular situation has been repeated as these places are booked solid for months and even though Paula and I are (relatively) good people, that in itself does not move us up on the List!

Enter Country Classic Auto Body in Sussex, N.J.

These guys only repair motorhomes, fifth wheels, pull-behinds, etc. They are specialists in RV/ Motorhome bodywork and if you are ever unfortunate enough to get into an altercation of mass proportions and need it fixed, these are THE guys.

Fortunately, I have a very nice relationship with the Cecchini family as they were at the top of the list of customers at the Chatterbox.  Our Saturday Cruise Night was organized in part by the Lou Cecchini, the dad of Mike, the owner of this enterprise.

So, this has some bearing on what they said to me when I relayed my tale of woe to them, “Just give us two days’ notice and we’ll get you fixed.”

Now you can understand why we’re headed back to New Jersey to get it fixed. But here’s the best part…. if you go on Google and read their reviews you will find a perfect 5.0 with over fifty verified reviews. This is in a category (auto repair) that someone always finds faults with.  ‘Nuf said.

                                    This was the impetus behind altering our Western Schedule that had included several National Parks in Utah that we have yet to visit. But we did decide to slide back into Texas in time for Maddie’s 8^th birthday so that sweetened the trip East a bit! We will “hole up” at the Texas hide-out for a spell (enough time for some doctor’s appointments and a haircut) and then Three-Day it to Jersey.

                        That was all well and good until a few days ago when that “Suspension Problem” unveiled itself in the wilds of the Oregon forests. Before I describe this problem, I will tell you that our wonderful local, family owned, Texas Truck Repair facility closed up shop last year. We had been fortunate to have two great places for fixing stuff, this one in Texas, and Campbell’s in Lafayette, N.J., and finding a replacement in Texas has not yet been a successful proposition.

                                    So, we’re goin’ to Jersey anyway!

            Here is the issue. These big units use airbags as one of the components of the suspension. They act like shock absorbers in your car. They add an element of support and linkage to the frame and when one goes “Poof!” you can see the tilt of the vehicle on the side of the deflated air bag. We had this happen once before and those guys in Texas (sniff!) were able to just pop it back on, somewhat like restoring a tire on a rim… all good!

            The reasons for this issue can vary but, in our case, we think that when we leveled the motorhome at Crater Lake the rear had to come up a little too much. The tires never left the ground, but the distance between the body and the suspension was just a little too great for ten-year-old rubber “balloons” to stretch to and the right side one gave up the ghost and quit on the spot. This was totally noticeable when we let the motorhome come off of the leveling jacks. The issue then became…. no phone service, no internet, and no cities within 80 miles of where we were. We limped out of the Campground and headed for the biggest city that we could find, Klamath Falls, Oregon, which luckily was on our way.

                        Now, it is not advisable to drive extensively in this condition but as long as the tire is not rubbing on the wheel well and you take it easy, you can drive. We finally got to a point where we could get a call out to our guys at Campbells who advised us of the same. Feeling a tad relieved we ventured on to Klamath Falls with Paula researching (when we had service) some truck repair places. This is not an RV related problem as the Motorhome sits on a Freightliner chassis and requires truck type folks to work on it.

                        Goldilocks would have been proud as it was the third repair facility that would even give us the time of day. They had never seen this particular issue before but they’re mechanics and when I related to them that once before the guy had “popped” it back on, the solution kind of presented itself. Fingers crossed.

                                    Lucas was our guy and after just a few minutes underneath, he resurfaced and said, “Let’s give it a try” Sure enough, it was an instant success. I queried Lucas as to how this system works and he explained it to me which in hindsight became invaluable because the very next day, after a stint in the Walmart of Price, Utah, we encountered the same issue when we came off of the jacks in the morning. Now, we were extended nowhere near the length that we were at Crater Lake which means that this issue is little more far gone than we realized. We could have limped the almost three-hundred miles down into Durango, but just for fun I decided to crawl underneath and see what’s what. There it was, obviously dislocated, and laughing at me. Again, looking at it, the solution presented itself, but the application of a repair was quite iffy. Wrestling with this big rubber balloon and trying to position it correctly was not a guarantee of success. I did what I could and then dropped us off of the jacks, the Big Balloon settled nicely into its base, and all was good with the world!

                        The ride from Price, Utah to Durango, Colorado went off without a hitch, the weather was superb, and we arrived a little ahead of schedule. Tuesday morning, (Monday is Labor Day) I will be calling our friends at Campbells and scheduling a repair appointment. Good thing we’re headed back there anyway!

                                    So that sums up our Mechanical Mayhem issues.

 On to more fun stuff that I promised! Here you will find a rambling set of various photos from the past few weeks, I hope that you enjoy them!

So that will end this exhibit and hopefully bring everyone up to speed on the Issues. We truly love having everyone along with us and thanks a million for reading! It’s no fun writing if no one reads! 😊

                        We arrived at our Campground the day before our venture into Crater Lake National Park. This afforded us the opportunity to get an early start as the day promised to be one of superb weather which practically guarantees a voluminous crowd of visitors.

                        We were conspicuously situated at said Campground, designed with ease of Park access in mind, as it is situated only seven miles away from the North Entrance (!)….. until….

                        Fire!

                        Closed access roads!

                        Best laid plans went, literally and figuratively, up in smoke.

                        On to Plan B.

                        Get up even earlier because that seven-mile trek into the Park turned into a forty-five-mile sojourn enroute to the opposite side of the Park.

                        As we pulled up to the Official Park Entrance, we noticed that all of the cars in front of us were being denied entrance into the Park. This is not a good sign.

                        We pulled up to the friendly Ranger and handed her our Golden Access Forever ‘cuz We’re Senior Citizens Pass, and she proceeded to read our names on it. Ranger Smiley looked over at us, sort of confirming our identities, nodded in recognition, and then breathed a sigh of relief as she shouted over her shoulder, “They’re here!”

                        She handed our Credentials back to us offering an explanation at the same time, “We heard that you were in the area, and we’ve been turning everyone else away waiting for you to arrive. Now that you’re here we can close this gate and we can all go home, the Park is yours for today.”

          At least that’s what it seemed like.

                                                We were seemingly alone in the Park-of-the-Century on a day that any self-respecting Vacationer would kill for.

                      The photos will explain it all.

                                    When we use that over-exaggerating phrase, “There wasn’t a cloud in the sky,” we usually meant that the weather was really good and that an occasional friendly, puffy, cloud wafting overhead is welcomed.

                                     Not today!

                                                Here, where the water vies for First Place in the Bluest of Blues category, there was not ONE CLOUD ALL DAY!

                                    The day before we entered, we took advantage of arriving early enough to explore the surrounding countryside. There was definitely some fire-related activity as illustrated by some closed roads and the enormous Fire Camp just up the road. Luckily for us there had been a substantial rainfall a few days earlier that did two things, one, it squelched most of the fire and smoke, and two, it provided some more run-off to fill these waterfalls for us! There are six in total but because of fire, and distance, we only visited two.

                                    The next day, The Visit Day, was as previously mentioned, an incredible “on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest”, a fifteen(!) Weather Day.

                                    And yes, there was no one else there. At least for the morning. Some ho-hum “let’s get up at eleven and see what’s in the park” tourons got there later but by then the sun was high in the sky and the sights, however still grand, were somewhat diminished compared to the early morning views.

                                    In any event, we had the place to ourselves.

                        Crater Lake National Park is one of those experiences that must be done in person to appreciate it. There are no photographs, however fine they may be, that can convey the breathtaking features of this all-sensory encounter.

                             The colors.

                             The pine-scented airs.

                              The silence of the enormity.

                        Mix these all together on a picture-perfect day and you have an experience that is unforgettable!

                        So be ready for some nice photos, but be forewarned, this Crater Lake came about by way of our constant companion, Mr. Plate Tectonics and his friends and relations, so you will not only be treated to some great scenery, but you will also know and understand how this fabulous Park came to be!

                                    Or you can just look at the pretty pictures and hope that there won’t be quiz sometime in the future.

Your call!

                        Let’s start at the beginning and take a look at the mountain range that Crater Lake is part of. The Cascades run from northern California up into British Columbia and contain several mountains that we have all heard of…. Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood (which we visited two weeks ago) Mt. Shasta, and a host of others but here’s the one that brings it all into perspective… Mt. St. Helens.

                                    This Range is still considered “active” as illustrated by the relatively recent eruption of Mt. St. Helens ‘only’ 38 years ago, in 1986. In a business that registers its timeline in eons, periods, epochs, and ages, 38 years is not even a dinosaur’s eyelash in length. So that means anything can and will happen again.

                                    So what we see today is the remnant crater of a much larger volcano. About 400,000 years ago (we’re not exactly sure when Mount Mazama was born as her birth records were lost in another later eruption) a little bit of lava crept to the surface of the earth here and it discovered that it would much rather be up on the surface rather than down deep below. Calling all of its friends and relatives to join her, Mt. Mazama gained in elevation until she was about 12,000’ high.

                                    All was fine and dandy until roughly 7,700 years ago when the rest of her acquaintances rushed for the surface all together at the same time, building pressure until eventually they all went Kaboom! Since everyone vacated at the same time, there was no one left behind to hold things up and support everyone else, so the Great Collapse occurred. It all fell into itself forming a deep caldera (now known as Crater Lake) that took centuries to fill with rain and melted snowfalls. No streams, creeks, rivers, or any type of waters run into Crater Lake, thus helping to keep sediment and other nogoodniks from clouding this pristine, one-of-kind, natural wonder!

                                                Now you know all you need to know about how Crater Lake was formed and why it’s clarity is a world-record holder!

                                    “Hold on there Donny! How do you know that it’s a record holder and how in the world would one measure such a thing?”

                        I’m glad you asked that Mr. Fish-Finder!

                        The powers-that-be use a tool called a Secchi Disc. It was invented back in the 1800’s by Monsignor Angelo Secchi to be used to test and check the clarity of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a standard sized (12 inches for salt water, 8 inches for fresh water) black and white disc that is lowered into the water until it can no longer be seen. At that level, of whatever body of water you are testing, is the Secchi Depth, an internationally known and recognized standard.

                                    For comparisons purposes, the Secchi Depth of Lake Tahoe is half that of Crater Lake (about 75’) but that is still pretty good considering Lake Tahoe has boating, swimming, and a slew of towns that dot its shoreline.

                                    “Thanks for the explanation, Mr. Smarty-Pants, but we now want to know why it’s so blue!”

                                    I’m glad that you asked that one too, Mr. Monet!

 And to give you the reasons, and the whys, we’re going to have a Guest Lecturer. Someone that I’m quite sure that you’ve all heard of, Professor Roy G. Biv.

That’s an easy one! We all know that red light waves are at one end of the spectrum and the bluish ones are at the other end. When the sunlight hits the clear, very deep waters of Crater Lake, all of the longer reddish rays (the ones other than the short bluer ones) get absorbed by the waters. The shorter bluish ones get reflected back at us in their purest color because there isn’t any sediment in the water or any bottom that is shallow enough to reflect off of, so we see only the Blue Rays of sunlight when we look at the waters of Crater Lake!

And blue they are! This is one of the unique aspects of seeing Crater Lake under the best possible conditions. It is interesting trying to process photographs of Crater Lake as usually waters are not this blue. The sky may be, but not the waters! So, the aforementioned processing in my computer using Light Room, takes a bit of finagling so as not to have too much of anything and have the photo look fake!

                        I can assure you that these colors are, in fact, real and you need to see them for yourselves!

            Two years ago, we tried to visit Crater Lake in May only to find out the Park was still mostly closed because the snow was still hanging around.

In May.

Hence our trip here in August, which we figured was safe enough. It turns out that the entire park does not open sometimes until the beginning of July and is closed down again by the middle of October!

“Hey! So why does this place get so much snow?”

I’m glad you asked that one Ms. Meteorologist! But yours is the last question that we can entertain today! It’s all because of position. Crater Lake is on the crest of the Cascade Mountain Range which sits directly in the path of those wicked Northern Pacific winter storms that bear down on the Pacific Northwest and dump their precipitation on places like Crater Lake. They receive an annual snowfall that totals…..

(wait for it)……

Over fifty-five feet!

Now you can see how the Lake stays full without any streams, etc. running into it!

            Crater Lake National Park was established in 1902 making it our fifth oldest National Park. The Lake has a depth of an incredible 1,949’ and that figure ranks it as one of the deepest in the world. As mentioned before, some of the Park gets closed in the Winter, but as is usual for mostly all National Parks, it is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They do keep the road open to the Rim Visitor Center as much as possible. The height of the Snow Sticks is indicative of the road plowing process!

Crater Lake National Park is not easy to get to. There is not a nearby airport to fly into, or a major city to embark from. But a trip to this incredible place should be on your list. That list should include the rest of Oregon, maybe the places that we’ve shown, maybe more as there is still a host of other places to explore. Keep your suitcase packed for the return trip, which is looking more and more promising the more we experience Oregon!

                        Apologies up front for the delay in processing this and the next few Posts. Not that any of you would have noticed, as our Itinerary is not published, (for fear of paparazzi) but I usually try and have a Post out the day after that experience occurs. In this case we packed up and left our Hosts for the wilds of Interior Oregon, thrashing a path through the (as you may imagine) totally gorgeous Oregon forests and mountains. Hills and trees have no need for the Internet and do not have bank accounts to pay for them even if they did. So, Messrs. Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, Cricket, et al, have not seen fit to provide such a service, even here at our Campground.

                        I will be searching the surrounding National Parks for some access. You, obviously, will be the first to know!

Two days hence…. Addendum… we exited the Oregon Wilderness (post to follow soon) only to have a suspension issue with the motorhome. We are in Klamath Falls, Oregon just north of the California border. The “guys” will look at the issue after lunch. We shall see how long we will need to make Klamath Falls our new home. In the meantime, I have Internet and am able to publish 😊

Addendum Addendum… our repair took only a short time (!) so any Publishing will need to wait a bit.

                                                To Be Continued……

                   Meanwhile, a few days earlier and back on the Coast….

We continued our Intro to the Oregon Coast 101, which commenced in Pacific City, during our visit with Kris and Brian. Kris and Brian are folks that we met while on the World Cruise last year and didn’t mind a bit when we followed through with our threat to visit them sometime! I know that we’re relatively easy company….. we bring our beds, food, laundry detergent, etc. with us wherever we go, but one still has to carve out some time for us when we “drop by”.

                        Brian and Kris were more than happy to continue our Or-Ed (Oregon Education) program while we were there. They live in Newport, right on the coast and if there’s any aspect about Oregon that is consistently jaw-dropping, it’s the Coast.

                        Newport is one of the few places on the Oregon Coast that can host a real harbor. On the East Coast, we’re used to every little nook and cranny of our coastline being a harbor of sorts. But check out a map of the West Coast, from Southern California to Northwest Washington…. there are far fewer indents in the coastline that can serve as a harbor, especially considering the length of that Coast. So, everybody makes Newport home! The Coast Guard, NOAA, Oregon University Marine Studies, a large commercial fishing fleet, Barnacle Bill’s Sailing School…….. everybody!

                        There is also a conspicuous/copious number of Lighthouses along the way. In the local case here, they did help guide ships into the Harbor, but they also act as waypoints along the coast for navigation purposes. You’ve probably noticed that a fair amount of this coastline is made up of rocky cliffs.

This is good for all of us, filling our needs for dramatic settings and far-reaching vistas.

But….. it is bad for ships.

But…. it’s good for perching lighthouses in incredibly scenic settings!

Which we get to visit and photograph!

Downtown Newport has a nice run of waterfront dining and shopping, but the highlight of this area has to be the Sealion Docks. This is where all of the male sealions hang out for the majority of the year until “that time” calls and they exit for the Channel Islands offshore, have some umbrella drinks, get some girls, ….. and sometime in the spring we get baby sealions!

The Docks can be “heard” way before they can be “seen”. We are all familiar with that distinctive sealion bark. Now let’s put a hundred or so of these boisterous fellows together and have them vie for a coveted spot on the Docks.

                        Cacophony may be a proper description of the sounds emanating from this area.

            In the meantime, they are such a local attraction that when the docks were destroyed in a December 2022 storm, the locals raised $70,000 to get some new ones and have them installed and ready for the guy’s arrival in August of 2023.

Lunch was had at the local tavern which hails itself as the home of ‘winos, dingbats, and riffraff.’ How can you not love a place with a self-deprecating sense of humor! The double-entendre named “Barge Inn” was the perfect spot for a local meal. I had a Crispy Chicken Bacon Wrap because what’s better than something with Bacon attached to it? The best part of the menu was that there, right in the middle of the offerings, was a heading labeled ‘Cookies-All Flavors’.

            I am now a part owner in this enterprise.

One of the best parts of the World Cruise was meeting new people who next became friends and then moved on to life-long friends. As we travel around and visit these folks we get to reminisce, drag out our photo books, and relive some of the great things that we shared whilst aboard.

Kris and Brian challenged us to a return trip as they said that there were many more things to show us in the Newport area and from the looks of things we would have to agree.

Besides, Miss Biggie fit very nicely into their driveway with nary an inch protruding into the street 😊

We all went flying yesterday.

Sort of.

Well, I went to an Aviation Museum and…

Liz and Paula went for wine-“tasting’s” (?)

I’m sure you get my drift.

I’ll start with the Wine first as the only information that I could get from the “Imbibers” was that there seemed to be “lot’s of teenie-weenie little grapes and then like poof! they become wine!”

                                    Or something like that.

            Actually, Liz picked two of the better and more influential of Oregon’s wineries to visit yesterday and treated Paula to a great day.

 Argyle and Furioso, both of Dundee, located in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

“Well Don, how come you know so much about wine?”

I’m glad you asked that you ol’ sommelier!

I looked it up!

I’m a better judge of chocolate milk than wine…..

(“Hmm,,,, Tuesday…. that was a good day.”)

So, for all of you wino’s …. oops! I mean Wine Aficionados out there here’s all you need to know about those two vintners….

                                    Just buy them!

                        I can speak with some authority (by association) on Argyle because one of my good friends (who can buy any bottle of wine in the world that he may like) has chosen Argyle as his vineyard of choice when he wants the wines that they produce. That’s enough for me! And…. apparently only the products from the Champagne region itself can compete with Argyle’s selection of fizzy wines.  

And that is saying something!

Furioso was named “…..One of the 25 most beautiful wineries in the world….” by Rizzoli of New York.

            I can speak with zero authority as to who Rizzoli is, but I can tell you that both Paula and Liz raved about how beautiful the place was. Some more photos would have been nice but apparently the girls were “taking this wine tasting very seriously” and I suppose that there was no time left for frivolous photography.

                        Or something like that.

On the other hand, you may expect a full-disclosure of how I spent my time at The Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in the very unlikely location of McMinnville, Oregon.

Why McMinnville?

Good question. It’s because it is the home of the former world-wide air transport service of Evergreen International, and yes, there is an airport there that can support that large of an aircraft.

But this is not your average Air Museum, no this organization was the one that was selected (back in the early 90’s) to be the future home of Howard Hugh’s famed, much larger-than-life….. Spruce Goose.

That was my primary reason for coming to this Museum way out here in Northwestern Oregon. I’m fairly sure that we all are somewhat familiar with the story of Howard Hughes, his eccentricities, his companies, and his accomplishments.

 I highly recommend watching The Aviator (directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo De Caprio and Cate Blanchett) as it will give you a glimpse into the life and times of Hughes, at least during his mid-life years.

BTW… it was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, and it took home five.

Our combined goal for the day was to get me to the Museum in time to purchase a “Behind the Scenes” tour of the Spruce Goose which are available only on a first come, first served basis.

And…. not do this all too early as the Vineyards did not open until the noonish area.

We were successful on all counts as I was booked on the 12:40 PM tour with Dave. This gave me over an hour to explore the rest of this fine facility. I’m not sure if you will ever get an honest review from me when it comes to both Aviation and Maritime museums. We (collectively you and me) have explored our share of these venerable institutions over the past four years of the Blog and if there is one thread that binds all of these organizations together, it is that of Pride. They are all so proud of what they have collected and displayed for our mutual admiration and education. I could never be negative knowing that their museum had the hearts and souls of the folks involved poured into it.

So, no honesty here, they’ll all be great 😊

But….. This place is AWESOME!!!!!!

A World-Class Collection of vintage aircraft and spacecraft, plus all of the important storylines connecting them all together.

There is no doubt that the Spruce Goose is the centerpiece, the Queen of the Show, and without a doubt, one of the most important aviation artifacts ever. And it’s here.

                        The campus is gorgeous, the buildings, all designed for their purpose and all complementing each other in design and size. This place is impressive.

                        Evergreen International and many other aviation related companies were the brainchildren of Del Smith, a highly respected aviation industry mogul. He and his son devised a plan for the eventual successful bid to have the Spruce Goose acquired and moved over thousand miles northward to McMinnville, Oregon, the company’s headquarters.

Last and certainty most important….

They have several displays concerning those indispensable ladies of the Space Program at NASA, the Hidden Figures. Ever since that movie came out, there have been more and more examples of the ladies behind the numbers (and computers) at NASA.

Here is one of the Ladies….

The best story to come out of this board is the time that Margaret had to bring her daughter to work with her and the child flipped a switch in the command module throwing everything into chaos. After things calmed down, she suggested that she write a program that would help prevent this from happening. She was told that “astronauts are highly trained and would never have that happen…” Well…. months later on Apollo 8, Jim Lovell made that exact same mistake as the little girl. Margaret Hamiliton got to make her program that prevented from this from happening again.

There is SO MUCH MORE, but I am afraid of getting tedious here as I believe that this is the fourth or fifth Aviation Musuem that I’ve dragged you through this year…. so far!

Class dismissed!

                        Back in the ‘60’s National Geographic ran articles on individual States. My collection is in storage in Durango, Colorado so I’m not sure which issue it is but when I saw the accompanying photos of Oregon’s coast, Oregon made my Bucket List. That term Bucket List had yet to be invented (the movie of the same name did not appear until 2007) but the need for a collection of favorite places was not wasted on this young lad. Throw in Crater Lake (where we are planning to be later this week) and Oregon gets an extra star! 

                                                So, by now you’ve surmised that we are here on Oregon’s Pacific Coast. We were here two years ago visiting Liz and Beth in the bustling metropolis of Pacific City. Of course, we use the term “city” and “bustling metropolis” lightly here. With only about a thousand residents, a market, several RV parks, a brewpub, and an awesome hardware store, Pacific City has all that it needs. It sits at the base of Cape Kiwanda which sits directly across from one of those destination defining natural objectives, Chief Kiwanda Rock. This “Rock” is one of the three “Haystack” rock formations that help give the coast of Oregon its rugged appearance. They were all once part of the mainland and are volcanic in origin. The ‘softer’ materials that linked them to the mainland have long since worn away leaving these huge basalt boulders to fend for themselves out in the ocean.

                                    Our last trip here was filled with hikes that brought us through numerous examples of seaside environments from a kind of rain forest to oceanside dunes and mini-hardwood forests in between. This time we spent a little more time on the beaches.

                                    The tides here are not as vertically severe as say Maine, but they do have an immense horizontal effect on the beaches. Low tide exposes vast expanses of hard-packed sand that everyone goes out on looking for “finds”. Agate, shells, sand dollars, and the like are constantly being discovered. Liz brought us out on our first night here using a recumbent trike that has a battery power assist. Beth has MS and obviously some mobility issues, and these allow them to still get around nicely. It seems that these trikes stir up interest whenever they go out, so much so that Liz carries business cards of the dealer where they procured them. Case in point, I stopped at the top of the Dory Ramp on our way up from the beach when a man approached and asked where we got them. It wasn’t until we were into our conversation that I noticed that he had a prosthetic leg. I have a feeling that one of these will be on his procurement list pretty soon.

                        So Don, what in the name of “Finding Nemo” is a Dory Ramp?

                        I’m glad you asked that you “old school fisherman” you!     

                        Back in the day there was an entire fleet of these dories that would put to sea every day and row out as far as they needed to in order to catch whatever was running at the time. These include Chinook and Coho salmon, Dungeness Crab, Albacore Tuna and Rockfish. There used to be an old salmon cannery here in Pacific City, started back the late 1880’s and the Dory fisherman would battle the surf every day to launch their boats. Today the cannery is gone and with it most of the professional Dory men. But there are still some card-carrying Dory men that not only fish for a living but now take passengers out for a day on the ocean to try and catch those same fishes that have been their goal since the early days. You must be a member of their organization to use the aforementioned Dory Ramp. This allows access to the beach as these boats are launched and retrieved directly from the surf. It’s a hoot watching them come in and out as this is one of the only places remaining on the West Coast that still employs this technique.

Many old timers in town, along with some long-time visitors, claim Pacific City has changed a lot during the last 40 years. However, compared to other coastal towns, it remains a relatively undeveloped quaint village and has retained everything that originally attracted early settlers and visitors. Pacific City is still unincorporated and has no mayor or city council. Bordered on three sides by BLM land, and the Pacific Ocean on the fourth, further development of the area will be greatly restricted.

It seems that no one gets tired of going down to the beach and with the local population as small as it is, you seem to always run into someone that you know. I went down there yesterday morning to take a few pics and a gentlemen struck up a twenty-minute conversation with me.

Rick is my new best friend 🙂

                        Our last full day in the Portland area brought us to an experience that we’ve never had before.

                        We went to a Japanese Garden.

                        Not just any Japanese garden….

                        This is the Japanese garden that the rest of the country comes to visit when they want to see and learn how to start one of their own.

                        The backstory….

                        The year is 1957 and the memories of WWII are still stinging on both sides of the Pacific. A few thoughtful Portland citizens thought that building an authentic Japanese garden would help heal the wounds that were still festering within the communities. At first there was some opposition to the plan and things got a little dicey from time to time, but in the end it all came together.

                        Some land was appropriated from the old sections of the Portland Zoo and the site was dedicated in 1961.  A Professor Takuma Tono of Tokyo Agricultural University was retained to design the Garden. Professor Tono’s plan included five different garden styles laid out on 5.5 acres. This was quite a departure from gardens in Japan which typically follow one singular style. His intention was to represent different historical developments in Japanese garden architecture and through that communicate Japanese culture to create a cultural exchange.

                        Well…. It all turned out so nicely that when the former Ambassador of Japan to the United States visited, he proclaimed them to be “the most beautiful and authentic Japanese Garden in the world outside of Japan.”

                                    So here we are about sixty years later, the greenery has had the all-important chance to “mature” and the facility could not have been nicer. I will not explain any further as there are the obvious photos that accompany this Post. All I can say is that if you are ever in this area, you MUST make this a stop on your itinerary.

                                    Now without further ado,

I present for your viewing pleasure …..

                                    The Portland Japanese Gardens……

After we went to the Gardens, we dropped down into the Rose Garden. Portland has been called the Rose City since the early 1900’s, so this Rose Garden is a large part of the city’s identity.

Below you will find some of the pretty ones…..

And last but certainly not least, we visited the Pittock Estate. The Pittock family was an important ingredient in the local community, and they meant a lot to both the local charities and the businesses in the area. Their home has undergone an extensive restoration with many of the original family furniture pieces finding their way back home.

Well, that wraps up our stay in the Portland/Vancouver/Columbia River/Mount Hood area. We are looking forward to a return someday as there is still Mount St. Helens and some more wonderful seacoast areas to visit. No worries, Steve and Sandi already know that we’ll be back!

                        If you’ve seen the movie The Goonies (1985) then you have heard of Astoria, the setting for this film. I couldn’t help checking out the details of this movie as it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it.

What Rabbit Hole!

The cast is an essential Who’s Who of both veteran and up-and-coming very young talent.

The work of director Richrd Donner was complemented by a screenplay by Chris Columbus and producer Steven Spielberg.

I could go on and really plummet down this hole with all of the cast and other trivia but that’s not what this Post is about.

But…. it did put Astoria, Oregon on the map of its contemporaries around the country.

                        Astoria is the oldest city in Oregon and was named for one of the wealthiest men (and families) in the United States.

 You know… J.J.

As in John Jacob Astor.

(J.J. Astor IV perished on the Titanic)

J.J. owned the American Fur Company which was the parent company of the Pacific Fur Company which built Fort Astoria and used it as a base of operations.

That was in the early 1800’s as the city was founded in 1811.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition wintered down the road from here in 1805-06 and with the mighty Columbia River as its claim to fame, Astoria was primed for success.

                                    We arrived here mainly out of curiosity, The Goonies and a venerable museum, the Columbia River Maritime Museum, along with the coastal reputation for incredible storms and rough-surf conditions have made this location world-famous.

 Or should I say infamous.

This is where the Coast Guard comes and trains their members in rough water rescues using the incredible 44-footers, the standard around the world for endurance. These boats are self-righting and self-bailing which means that they can roll over, upside down, (hold your breath please) and pop back on top ready to plow through another giant wave.

We watched a film whilst there.

If you are so inclined, just Google “Coast Guard 44 mlb”, (mlb signifies Motor Life Boat) you will not be disappointed. And you will be able to witness how the training of the folks that operate these vessels makes them able to rescue people in seemingly impossible situations.

The Maritime Museum here highlights many of the obvious facets of this Columbia River port, but it does an exceptional job of showing and explaining fascinating specialties of the crews that work here.

                        One is the just mentioned Coast Guard’s National Motor Lifeboat School and the other is the Columbia River Bar Pilots Association. Now don’t be jumping to conclusion here…. this is not a social organization of pilots who do “bar crawls”, it is a team of highly trained individuals who possess the knowledge and understanding of how the sand bars that form and constantly shift in the mouth of the Columbia River confound the masters of visiting ships. The Bar Pilots ensure the safe passage of any commercial ship that needs to enter into the river system from the ocean.  There are not many Ports around the world that require Bar Pilots (although they all do require Harbor Pilots) and of those that do, the Columbia River Bar is considered to be the most dangerous in the entire world.

                                    They have a video of this also.

 One of the things that it shows is how the Pilots actually arrive at the incoming ship and then transfer to the same. And that was the easy part!

                                    The Crown Jewel of this Museum and one of the primary reasons that I wanted to visit here, is the nicely restored (just in the last two years) USCG Lightship, COLUMBIA. The Columbia and her predecessors have sat about five miles out at sea marking the entrance to the Columbia River since 1892. Think of a floating lighthouse and you will have this concept down pat. This Columbia is the fifth ship of this type and was launched back in 1951. She retired in 1979, replaced by a giant Light Bouy that only needed periodic servicing, not a staff of 18 sailors in rotating bi-weekly shifts.  

                        The integrity of these lightships is a testament to incredible design, engineering, and shipbuilding skills. These floating lighthouses don’t get to “run for harbor” when those fierce North Pacific storms come sailing in from Japan and points west. Eventually even that Light Bouy was replaced by more modern navigation tools, especially GPS and the like.

                                    I get the impression that one could make a lifetime study of all of the Maritime Museums around the world. The best part about that is that no two would be alike. Each location has a wonderful local angle attached to it that makes their homegrown seafaring folks proud to be a part of it.

                                    You and I get to watch from the safety of the shore.

                                    And have a nice lunch!

                                    Museum finished, time for lunch! And for the second day in a row, I had a really good meal! This time it was the Inferno’s rendition of a Philly Cheesesteak, using Tri-Tips instead of the usual shredded(?) steak. I took half home.

                                    The afternoon in Astoria was taken up with a trip way up top to a local monument simply called the Astoria Column.

The Column was erected in 1926 as the last monument (in a series) that the Great Northern Railroad erected from St. Paul, Minnesota to Astoria, Oregon. This series of monuments marked the trail and achievements of the Railroad on its way West. Someone wisely checked in with Vincent Astor (the great-grandson of J.J.) and asked if he’d like to “contribute” to his family’s legacy here in Astoria. His answer was obviously “Yes” as the monument erected is nothing short of a work of art. They hired the best designers and craftsmen, including one of the top Italian artists familiar with the process of sgraffito, a method that utilizes paint and plaster to create a frieze. There are twenty-two such friezes depicting the important dates and events that led to the eventual discovery and settlement of Astoria.

                                    This series of events and discoveries eventually led to Paula and Steve climbing the 164 steps to the top of the 125’ monument just so they could wave down at Sandi and me.

                        Their accomplishment is not memorialized in a friez

More photos…..

                      Mount Hood in North Central Oregon is a volcano.

                                    From up on its sloping sides, you can view its little sister Mt. Saint Helens, which is only about one hundred miles to the north. Both reside in the still scary (and active) Cascade Range. We all can remember the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens, (only forty-four years ago, a gnat’s life in geologic time) which measures its age with epochs and eons never mind years and centuries!

                                                Mount Hood is still venting, and the occasional whiff of escaped sulfur gases can be detected from time to time. The next eruption of this mountain is set for maybe some time next week, so we felt very comfortable visiting the old lodge and having a very nice lunch.

Only kidding!

Actually Mt. Hood is still monitored but Mt. St. Helens is considered the “Most Likely to Succeed” in an eruption any time soon.

Film at 11.

(I hope that someone in the class has noticed that I did not go into the Plate Tectonics of this region for fear of losing some newly acquired readers!)

                                                We are at our next stop after Spokane, and it is a bit further West. We are in both Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington which are directly across the HUGE Columbia River from each other.

We are visiting Steve and Sandi, friends from the World Cruise. You may recall we were with them this past February in Palm Springs where they stay in the winter. In the warmer weather they live up here directly on the Columbia River which provides a never-ending supply of passing ships, osprey sightings, and the occasional really fast speedboat!

Sandi and Steve have been our “Tours by Locals” tour guides for the past few days, and we keep joking about how many “Stars” they will be getting from us, the “Tourists”.

So far, so good!

This part of our country is dominated by a few notable natural features, namely, volcanoes, the combined river system of the Columbia and the Snake, and vast forested areas that are now prone to spontaneous combustion it seems.

                        We did visit Mount Hood, and it is quite impressive at over 11,000 feet in elevation. This elevation is more remarkable as the surrounding countryside has an elevation that is relatively low (about 1500’) and flat making Mt. Hood seem to just jump from the surrounding countryside. Mt. Hood also “makes” its own “weather” as evidenced by the stubborn clouds that hung just at the summit and quickly disappeared as they moved on. Still, seeing all-year-around-snow was impressive and this is the only spot in the country that offers skiing all year around. Many a ski-team ventures up here for a little practice in the off-season.

                        Clinging to the slopes is the Timberline Lodge which was dedicated by FDR in 1937. A combined project of the WPA and CCC, it was constructed using local materials, especially the giant wooded beams and posts. Local artisans weaved the rugs and sewed the curtains, it really was a labor of love that went into this exciting project.

A few years later, WWII broke out and of course the hotel deteriorated over that time. When the war was over and business resumed, bad management and questionable business practices brought the Lodge to its knees, and it was scheduled to be razed. Enter Richard L. Kohnst (RLK) a local guy who thought he could fix it all. Fix it he did because ever since that day in 1955 his company and family have guided this enterprise very successfully to international prominence. It’s interesting how one can tell that an establishment is not part of a “national” chain of management companies that vies for the business of running these great Lodges. That delicious lunch that I mentioned before was the key for me. The menu was not “cookie-cutter’ in any aspect and the offerings were unique enough to suggest that they were far from generic. I had a “French Dip” that was the best I’ve ever had, complete with that “dip” part being infused with a Bleu Cheese, which made it a tad creamy and very tasty. That’s how I could tell, and it was confirmed when I asked our waitress about the company that ran this Lodge.

                        There is nothing better than a family run operation.

                        The other prominent feature around here is the Columbia River. This thing is HUGE! We have over 2500 rivers in this country and the Columbia comes in at #8 for length at about 1240 miles but ups its game when calculating discharge…. It doubles its ranking and jumps up to #4!

                        The Columbia River Gorge is one of our Scenic Designations in the country. It was carved out a really long time ago when a really big inland sea suddenly lost its drain plug and carved its way out of Montana, Dakota, and Idaho areas and plunged down thru this expanse carving its way to the Pacific Ocean.

                        We plan on returning to the Pacific Northwest in the future. The opportunity to see the Snake River Gorge at over 8000’ deep is too tempting to miss. Plus, when we travel from Montana to Spokane we travel thru some really pretty parts of Idaho with beautiful lakes and pretty valleys all just waiting for us to set a spell in.

We’re here for two more days, so more to come!

                        When we looked at our route that would take us from Seeley Lake, Montana to the Vancouver, Washington/Portland, Oregon area and saw that we were a whiskers width away from Spokane, Washington, we knew that we needed to stop again and visit with Greg and Kim (May 7^th, 2022). We were here a little over two years ago and they graciously gave us a tour of their fabulous little city, Spokane. Here, “little” is not derogatory in any way. Spokane has all of the amenities that a “big” city has but it just feels just a tad more ‘cozy’ than those ‘others’. And that’s a good thing.

                        Spokane (spoke-ann) has obviously been lived in for thousands of years starting with those folks that trudged all over the North American continent, the hunter-gatherers. For our purposes we will fast-forward a few thousand years and drop in here during the late 19^th century, 1881 to be exact, as that is the time that (here it comes….) “the railroad came to town.” Yes, the Northern Pacific Railway arrived that year and two years later, in 1883, gold, silver, and lead were discovered in the area and (here comes another one of my favorite sayings….) “the rest is history”.

                        Now firmly established and growing at a fantastical rate, Spokane found itself building and burgeoning over the next twenty years or so. The Town Fathers (and I’m presuming that quite a few Mothers were kicking them forward at the time) were concentrating on making Spokane the capital of what was referred to as “The Inland Empire”. Railroads, minerals, timber, and furs were all important ingredients to this claim. Hastily built wooden structures from the early 1880’s were just ripe for a devastating fire which presented itself exactly 135 years and 15 days ago. On August 4^th, 1889, a fire started and when it was finished it had destroyed 32 blocks of downtown Spokane.

                        So, that’s where we come in for today.

                        There was a construction boom in Spokane which defied description. More “modern” masonry and steel edifices were becoming the norm which gave the city a more upscale feeling with those accompanying industries following suit.

                        Enter Mr. Llewellyn Marks (Louis) Davenport in the Spring of that fateful year. At just twenty-years old, he came to town from San Francisco to work for the summer in his uncle’s restaurant, The Pride of Spokane.

                                                Fire.

                                                Most of the City went poof!

                                                Young Louis salvaged what he could.

                                                Then he bought a tent.

                                                Davenport’s Waffle Foundry opened.

                                                And flourished!

                        Recognizing an opportunity, Louis quickly leased a brick building on a popular corner and expanded his menu to over a hundred items.

Within a few years, Davenport’s Restaurant was described by a critic as “the finest thing of the kind in the country.” Business was so good, Davenport expanded into an adjoining building within a decade. He hired up-and-coming architect, Kirkland Cutter to make the two buildings appear as one in 1904. Cutter offered a Mission Revival style theme. The white stucco walls and green tile roofs stood in marked contrast to every other building downtown. This remodel added the finest ballroom in the West on the second floor, the Hall of the Doges (modeled after the Doges Palace in Venice). The delicious Crab Louis salad was born here and is now world-famous.

The City recognized a talent when they saw one. Some of the Local Tycoons got together and presented their idea of a what they thought the City needed, a world-class hotel where groups could meet and have outside business partners stay when they came to town.

And they wanted Louis Davenport to run it.

And have his moniker placed upon it ensuring that a highly recognizable, and very successful name would be attached to it.

In the design, Kirkland Cutter was instructed to make sure “no more money than necessary was squandered on exterior ornament”, which resulted in a building with a relatively simple exterior with strategically placed ornamentation but an extremely extravagant interior. 

They built lavishly it in the Renaissance and Spanish Revival styles, the 406-room Davenport Hotel cost two million dollars to complete and included new technologies at the time of its opening in September 1914, such as chilled water, elevators, and air conditioning!  Cutter and Davenport shopped the world for ideas and furnishings for their new hotel. Cutter designed the space drawing inspiration from the great architects of France, England and Spain and decorated the interior with luxurious appointments with fine art and tables dressed in Irish linens from Liddell and set with 15,000 pieces of silver (said to be the largest private commission for Reed and Barton). 

The tower went up in just eight months (with only one construction related death, a rarity at that time) and the hotel opened for business on September 1, 1914.

  Ever since then, the hotel has promoted itself as “one of America’s exceptional hotels.”

And judging by what we saw and the fact that it is now owned by KSL Capital Partners (who also own The Grand on Mackinac Island!) we could not have agreed more.

                                    The hotel offers visitors a pamphlet entitled “Historical Walking Tour”, and it guides you around the ground floor and second floor where the Lobby (now part of the hotel’s restaurant) and the Ballrooms, where a wedding was taking place at the time. Someone was having a “ball” 😊 because they were using all of the ballrooms for their wedding……  Ceremony, Photos, Pre-Dinner Snacks, Dinner, Dessert, and Dancing were all spread out amongst the different rooms! Not sure what that event cost but the Guests seemed to be having a grand time!

                                  However, the entire history of the Davenport is not so grand. As with many of our older establishments, times and proprietors change quickly over the years, and with each new owner visions and operations change, and not always for the best. Eventually, the Davenport fell onto hard times and was just about to be demolished after being closed for about fifteen years. This was in the early 2000’s. Along came a local couple with more than a couple of bucks because they bought the place (they spent $40,000,000 of their own money) and proceeded to put it all back the way it was, and then some! The results are obvious!

                                    During our last trip here two years ago, Kim and Greg toured us around town and showed us some of the other wonderful aspects of downtown Spokane. These are found in the Post aptly entitled, Spokane (from May 7, 2022). Go to the Archives and scroll back. I’m quite sure that you will be as impressed with this “little city” as we were!

                                    Thanks for reading!

                                    We are nestled nicely thank you in our spot in Seeley Lake, Montana courtesy of Steve and Phillis. This will be a time of “west and wewaxation” as Elmer Fud would say. Our Reserved Pad is right next to the runway here at the airport in Seeley Lake. Steve and Phillis have a Home/Hanger here and we get to tag along.  

                                           Last year was our Year of Discovery here in Montana and while there is still plenty to do and see, we’re just taking it easy. We do, however, have a Mechanical Problem of Significant Proportions to report.

                                    Our large Slide-Out is partially fritzified (yes, there’s that new vocab word again!) This issue does not affect the driving of the motorhome unless it gets stuck in the “Out” position, and if that happens we’d need those accompanying Flag Vehicles that travel with the Wide Load crowd! We are not sure why this problem occurred, the candidates are some significant potholes that we encountered back at a campground and /or the fact that we “Full Time” with this rig. Explanations below:

                                    First one is a ‘out of whack” situation.

Imagine a shoe box.

Now imagine trying to slide another just slightly smaller shoe box into the first one. Now slightly torque the first (larger one) ‘til it’s slightly kanked and now try and slide the other one into it.

Instead of the “Wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matt13:49-50), we get the “grinding and gnashing of gears” (Don9:30-54) which makes everything bind up and grind to a proverbial halt.

The second issue may be the fact that these motorhomes, travel trailers, etc. are not built for full-time use. The average family uses their units a few times a year for long weekends and a vacation or two.

That’s all they use it.

We, on the other hand, are constantly using ours and we put exponentially more use on the components than that average family does.

                        Either way it adds up to our very large slide out having issues and these issues and their consequences are non-negotiable. Although we can survive nicely with this slide tucked into the “In” position, it’s much nicer being able to move it in and out.                                               

                        The other factor here is that not everyone works on these puppies. And…. even if we were able to find one that does, their wait times for service stretch out several months. I know of just two places that I am positive that they: 

A.) know what they’re doing and

B.) are capable of completing the work.

One is Winnebago up in northern Iowa (we’ve been there before) and Country Classic Auto Body in Sussex, New Jersey who only work on motorhomes and other RV’s.

So…. it looks like we’ll be tracking back to the East Coast after this Western Swing because we couldn’t get into Winnebago until the middle of November at the earliest!

Tommy, clear out our Parking Spot…. We’re comin’ home!