A little preview of Harris Beach State Park, OR

I was packed up and on the road shortly before 8:00 yesterday morning, and headed south from Bandon to Brookings along scenic US 101.  At least I’ve been told it’s scenic.  There are enough curves and ups and downs that I could hardly enjoy the scenery.  I just had to pay attention to the driving.  I plan to do a portion of the drive again, but only in my car so I can easily visit all of the pull offs.

A little after 10:00, I pulled into Harris Beach State Park and had to figure out where my site was.  The check in station was closed.  I knew I was assigned B4 as a site, but had no idea where that might be.  There are four different loops, and they all intersect with each other with several one way sections.  I finally just stopped dead in the middle of the road when I saw a man outside his rig.  Luckily, he had a map to show me where to go.  As it turned out, I ran into Angela, one of the state park rangers, and she led me around to my site.

The site is paved, but is certainly not level for a rig my size.  As you can see, we’re surrounded by huge trees, so my DISH on top of the rig has no chance of finding a signal.    The site does have a very private patio area which is good for Emma. 

Dawn, the volunteer coordinator for all six of the refuges in the complex, met me there just as I was backing into my site.  All I did was hook up the electric for the fridge, and then headed off for two hours of orientation about the park and my duties.

After looking at the two possible locations for my outdoor station, I chose this one.  With the strong winds that can occur next to the ocean, this site is a little more protected than the other one.  I’ll be setting up a scope down near the picnic table and focus it on Bird/Goat Island that is across the bay.  That island is the largest one off of the Oregon coast and lots of sea birds nest on it. 

Today was spent orienting myself to the community of Brookings.  I drove down to Smith River in California to put in a wine order.  Prices for wine and other alcohol in California are almost half of what they are in Oregon, and it was only a drive of 11 miles.  I also got the toad washed.  It was a mess after being towed behind the rig’s exhaust pipes for a thousand miles.  Fred Myers is the grocery store in this neck of the woods, and I figured out where that is as well.

On the way back from town, I stopped to get a few pics from the overlook I’ll be manning.  This is looking south.  It was hard to believe that people were out in the water swimming.  The wind was howling and I was chilly in my hoody and jeans.

This is the view to the north.  A couple was out on the beach flying a kite.  I had heard that lots of folks come here to fly kites.  The winds were strong enough to lift the lady of the couple right up off of the ground.  She let out quite a shout as she became airborne for a moment.  It was fun to watch. 

I’ll be working both days of the weekend at the overlook.  My head is crammed with information about all the birds nesting on the island.  I have been warned though, that most folks stop here in hopes of seeing whales.  That’s okay.  I want to see whales too, and maybe I can introduce them to my avian friends. 

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

Two days of training done

I think my brain is on overload!  I’ve had two days of training on sea birds, whales, and sea mammals.  I’ve come into this assignment a true beginner as far as knowledge of these three areas of nature are concerned.  What a challenge.

Yesterday was all about sea birds.  These are birds that spend most of their lives out at sea on the oceans, and only come to land to nest and raise the next generation.  Puffins, guillemots, cormorants, murres, and such.  Being from the Midwest of the country, my learning curve about these birds is great.  I’m thinking I’ll learn more things working for Oregon Islands NWR than I’ve learned at any other refuge that I’ve volunteered at.  What an opportunity!

I just had to go visit the coast around Bandon after the day’s training to help me absorb all the information I had been given.  The mesmerizing sound of the breaking waves was very calming.

Today’s training was up on Coos Bay.  It was a day to learn about all the federal and state agencies that manage these wild areas as well as learn about the lives of whales and sea mammals.

When I lived in upstate New York and Minnesota, I always had hanging baskets of fuchsias.  It was quite a surprise to me to see fuchsias growing naturally as a huge bush in the area where the training was taking place.  I don’t know if fuchsias are native or not, and to be honest, I’m too tired to investigate that.

I also have to admit that sitting through all these hours of training was a bit of a challenge.  It’s been a long time since I’ve had to sit through hours of lectures, and my back was just killing me.  Although the whale and sea mammal topics were interesting, there were times when I had to jiggle my feet to keep awake.  Too much sitting, I guess. 

I was thrilled to finally get to the point in the training where we went on an excursion to Simpson Reef to see the seals and sea lions.  Simpson Reef is those rocks that go across the horizon near the top of the pic.  The area is a popular ‘hauling out’ area for sea lions, and a birthing place for harbor seals.  Do you see that area of sand that looks like a landing strip in the top middle?

There were quite a few California sea lions basking in the sun there.  I was told that last week the entire sand area was covered with them.  There were also elephant seals and harbor seals and pups scattered around, but I couldn’t get any pics of them.

When we were finished with the training, we all headed back to the rigs and had a pot luck dinner.  Chef Jay made very tasty stuffed pork loin with some of my wild rice from Minnesota.  As I head out in the morning, I’ll be missing my times with Linda and Jay, but perhaps our paths will cross again somewhere down the road.

I’ve got about 85 miles to drive tomorrow to my assignment at Harris Beach State Park down in Brookings, OR.  I’m excited about it, but have some studying to do before I’ll be comfortable manning my station.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

Yahoo! I made it to the Oregon coast!

Headed out from my spot at Valley of the Rogue State Park this morning shortly after nine.  My plan was to make it to Bandon, OR, by early afternoon.  Yesterday I had scoped out a place that I could easily get the rig in and out of a gas station.  I had thought of going to the Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville to fill up, but found a much easier small station about 10 miles before there.  I had filled the car up there yesterday, and told the owner I’d be back today to fill up the rig.

It’s kind of interesting to me that getting gas in Oregon is like the old days.  An attendant fills the tank for you, and asks if you’d like your windshield cleaned.  I smiled and said sure to the windshield cleaning.  The owner got out a step stool, and cleaned all the bugs off from the last 800 miles of travel.  Cool beans!

I took Highway 42 off of I-5 to get over to the coast.  It’s a good two lane road, but very twisty and up and down.  I seldom got to drive the 55 mph limit.  Remember the beautifully clean windshield?  Well, as I approached Coquille, I saw a dense black cloud moving across the highway.  I tried to slow down going down a steep hill, but I couldn’t avoid that black cloud.  It turned out to be a mass of bugs which just plastered the front of my rig with a very loud splat!  It was loud enough to make me jump in my seat.  Holy Moses!  What a mess.  I’d guess several hundred bugs were instantly sent to another world.  I’ve never had something like that happen before.  It was much worse than the love bugs in Texas in May.

Along about 1:30 I arrived at Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge.  I’ll be staying here for four nights as I do some training for my time at Harris Beach.  All I have is an electric hookup, and I squeezed in between the two volunteer sites here.  My friends, Linda and Jay, are volunteering here this summer, and that’s their rig on the left.

Found some foxglove blooming outside the rig after I got set up.  I surprised myself by knowing the name of this flower.  The skies were sunny when I arrived, but it wasn’t long before the coastal fog rolled in and a light mist began.

I needed some milk and bread, so Linda volunteered to take me to the local grocery store.  She also gave me a little tour of the Bandon area.  I finally got to see the Pacific Ocean.  As we stopped at one of the lookout places across from the lighthouse, I even got to see some whales spouting and moving around the bay.  That was exciting for me.

This is where Linda and Jay will be stationed this summer to educate visitors on the nesting sea birds.  What a difference in just a couple of weeks from the desert terrain I was living in.  I’m getting pumped about my assignment on the Oregon coast.

It didn’t really matter to me that it was foggy and overcast.  I was just happy to finally make it here.  Readers will have to get prepared for lots of ocean pics for the next couple of months.  I’m hoping tomorrow will have some sun as I get one day to explore this area before the training begins on Tuesday.

When we returned back to the rigs, a white-crowned sparrow was singing his heart out as Emma and I sat outside.  While Linda and I were wandering around, Chef Jay was preparing pulled pork, and they shared a delicious plate with me.  What a wonderful welcome to the Oregon coast today has been!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

Crater Lake National Park

Packed a lunch, and Emma, and my cameras and headed for Crater Lake Nat’l Park this morning.  It was a drive of about 85 miles to get there, but who knows if I’ll ever be this close again.

Along the way on Hwy 62, an Oregon Scenic Byway, I stopped at a Forest Service overlook to see the Rogue River Gorge.  I think Sherry would appreciate that this part of the Rogue River has been left wild. 

There was a nice paved trail that led to four overlooks of the cascading river.  I was in no rush, so Emma and I took the trail.

There were some nice views of the river if you stuck your head through the fencing (or if you were much taller than I am).  I’m guessing that most people skip this stop on their way to Crater Lake.  It was a good chance for me to stretch my legs and enjoy a stroll in the forest.  We had the place all to ourselves.

Eventually we reached the west entrance to the park.  I believe it’s the only entrance open this early in the season.  There is still enough snow cover in this high location that the East and West Rim drives aren’t open yet.  If I were here a week later, the East Rim drive would be open.

Right now, only seven miles of road is open, and that leads you to Rim Village with an overlook of Crater Lake.  All that white in the foreground is snow.

Merikay had informed me that the quarter mile walk at the rim allows dogs, so that’s why I was able to bring Emma with me on this excursion.  In season, there are also four trails that dogs are allowed on in this park.  Not many National Parks allow dogs anywhere but on paved roads and picnic areas to my knowledge, so this was unusual.

And for a change, Emma actually seemed interested in looking at the lake rather than just keeping her nose to the ground.    Because of the remaining snow, that quarter mile rim walk was limited to about 100 feet.  I honestly can’t say we spent much time there, and could only see one part of this huge lake.  The water sure did reflect the blue of the sky though.  Perhaps I’ll be able to return when the rim drives are open.

Since we couldn’t go any further, we turned around and headed for home.  Stopped for lunch at the Goodbye Creek picnic area on the way out.  Once again, we had the whole place to ourselves.  It was a gorgeous spot, and I just loved the smell of all those Douglas firs surrounding us.

Meanwhile, it’s Friday night in a state park.  I haven’t spent a weekend in a state park in quite some time, and this place is brimming with weekenders enjoying their two days off.  It’s good to see so many families out enjoying the area.  Seems pretty quiet to me.  Hope it stays that way…

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

Finally got out of California

After my initial failure at the gas pumps to get the rig moving last Friday, I spent the weekend back at Flag City RV Resort waiting for Monday morning.  I wasn’t comfortable traveling any further until I had someone check the engine for error codes.  The rig went into gear on Monday morning, and I headed for an authorized Workhorse repair place about 15 miles away.

I had called ahead, so I didn’t have to wait too long for them to come out and hook up to the rig’s computer.  The technician was stumped since it showed no error codes at all.  He put the rig through its paces of going in and out of park, and couldn’t duplicate the problem either.  Not much to do if there isn’t an error code found.

It was afternoon before I could leave the repair place, so I just went back to Flag City to spend night number six.  Since I had left the park and then returned, they honored my Passport America rate.  I appreciated that because I sure didn’t think the place was worth $54/night. 

Tuesday, I got back on the road and headed north to just south of Redding, CA.  Stayed at JGW RV park.  I’m having a problem swallowing the prices at California RV parks.  This one was $41 and supposed to be a pull through.  Yeah, I pulled through to get into the site, but then had to unhook and move the car to the front because the back half of the pad was another site that would be backed into.  What a pain for an overnight stay.

This morning I got back on I-5 and finally got the heck out of California.  The scenery was nice, but it sure was slow going over the Siskiyou Mountains.  Luckily, I’m traveling late enough in the year not to have to worry about snow and tire chains.  I wish I could have taken some pictures of Mount Shasta, but I don’t do that when I’m driving the rig.

What relief I felt as I pulled into Valley of the Rogue State Park!  I’ve got a nice pull through site (D-26) and plenty of room to breathe from my neighbors.  Full hookups for $28/night, and Emma went crazy rolling around in the grass.  It’s been six months since she could do that.

A short distance away is one of the park yurts.  Some volunteers were cleaning it up, so I went over and asked if I could see the inside.  I’m hoping my daughter, Robyn, and one or both grandgirls may be able to visit me at Harris Beach this summer, and they have yurts as well.

                               Here’s what it looks like inside.  Pretty nice, I think.

I have reservations to stay here four nights.  My plan is to be in Bandon, OR, on the coast on Sunday for a couple of days of training before I begin my stay at Harris Beach.  Crater Lake National Park is less than one hundred miles away, so I’m thinking of doing a day trip over there while I’m here.  I know all the roads around the lake aren’t open yet, but I’ve never been there before so I’ll give it a go.

This is the view out my kitchen table window.  Not too shabby.  Sure beats looking in your neighbors window.   Forecast for tonight is for temps to get down to 38*.  Guess I’ll make sure the heat is on.  Been some time since I’ve been where it’s that chilly.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

I only drove one mile today, but what a day it was

Since I only had about 100 miles to drive today to Nevada City County Fairgrounds, I dawdled a bit in the morning.  Fixed a filling breakfast and headed out about 10:30.  First stop was a Sinclair station to fill the gas tank a half mile down the road.  It turned out that that’s as far as I got.

Put about 60 gallons in the tank, hopped back in the rig and started up the engine.  When I put it into drive, a warning light appeared on the dash, the rig wouldn’t move, and I couldn’t turn the steering wheel at all.  Oh oh.  The last time this happened, I spent three weeks in a repair shop parking lot in Indiana.  That was four years ago, and the computer motherboard had to be replaced.  I shut the engine off, then tried a couple of more times, but it was a no go. 

The warning light said to have the engine serviced soon.  I just did that two weeks ago!  No choice but to call my roadside assistance.  They said a tow truck would be there in an hour.  Yeah, right.  To make a long story a bit shorter, the tow truck showed up about 2:30, and could only tow rigs under 30’.  Yes, I had stressed that the rig is 38’, a gas pusher, and weighs 26,000 lbs.  So another call was put in for the proper tow truck.  It was supposed to arrive in a half an hour.  Yeah, right.

In the meantime, they’re having a heat wave in the valley here, and the temps inside the rig rose to 94*.  I didn’t feel comfortable turning on the generator since I was still right next to the gas pumps.  You know all that stuff about sparks and such.  Didn’t want to blow the place up.

Okay, so it’s 4:00 on a Friday afternoon, there’s no tow truck in sight, and the towing company won’t answer their phone.  For the fourth time today, I call my roadside assistance.  While I’m waiting for a call back from them, one of the tire repair guys from this truck stop comes over to say he’s wondering why I’ve been sitting at the gas pumps for five hours.  I give him the story, and he asks to look at my engine.  All you can see is the radiator unless your crawl under the rig.  He doesn’t do that, but checks the oil instead.  Then he asks me to start it up so he can listen to how it sounds.  It sounded fine to him.  Then he says, put it into drive.  Hesitantly, I push the D button.  Guess what?  No warning light, the rig moves, and I have steering.  What the heck?  He suggests I make a big circle around the parking area to see how it handles.  Everything is back to normal.

The roadside assistance lady calls back to report she also cannot get a response out of the towing company.  So I tell her to cancel the call because who wants to sit in a Ford dealer parking lot with no hookups for the weekend?  That’s where they were going to tow me if they ever showed up.  I have a Workhorse chassis with a Chevy engine.  Don’t know how productive it would have been to get towed there anyway.

The tire repair guy’s analysis was with these newer rigs with computer boards and push buttons and such, maybe I pushed the wrong buttons and perplexed the computer for a while.  

So, with the rig running, I returned to Flag City RV Resort to see if I could stay once again.  I figure it’s better to head out on a Monday morning when repair places aren’t closed down for the weekend should problems arise again.  I’ve lost my paid reservation at Nevada City, and won’t be able to visit with Nickie and Jim, but that’s life some times.

I was so relieved to plug into electricity, turn on the AC, and try to cool down from the heat even if I had only driven one mile today.  I’d appreciate any input on whether or not the confused computer sounds feasible as an explanation.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

I’m in California wine country

Arrived at Flag City RV Resort in Lodi, CA, yesterday afternoon after an uneventful drive of 208 miles.  This is a much nicer park than I stayed at in Lost Hills, and with Passport America is $27/night as opposed to $48.  Since the PA discount is good for two nights, I decided to do that and relax today.

Lots of wine tasting available in the area.  So is that what I did today?  Nope!

I headed to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield instead.  They have free tours of the jelly bean making factory, and I always like seeing how things are made.  I’ve been on enough wine making tours in my life.

Jelly Belly invented their gourmet jelly bean in 1976, and soon afterwards Ronald Reagan boosted their economy by becoming a big fan.  He started meetings as governor of California, and as President with passing around a jar of Jelly Bellies.  There was even a special jar put on Air Force 1, that wouldn’t “spill the beans”! 

His influence is predominant throughout the factory.  This portrait of him is made entirely out of jelly beans… thousands of them.  Do you have a guess as to what his favorite flavor was?

  The visitor’s center and store is two stories tall and the space above is filled with huge jelly bean replicas. 

Of course, no pictures are allowed on the tour.  I’m not sure why, since hundreds of people a day take the tour, and there’s not really any secrets we could divulge to my way of thinking.

There were lots of jelly bean portraits displayed throughout the factory.  I thought they were pretty amazing.

Even though it’s blurry, I couldn’t pass up taking a shot of my teenage idol.  I wonder if he ever ate any before he died.

I found the tour very interesting.  There were videos on screens hanging from the ceiling at all the stops along the way that explained the history of the founding family and the actual process of making the beans.  My only suggestion would be that they get a cherry-picker in there and clean the windows of the viewing area.  You are looking down on the process from the second floor, and it seems that all that sugar floating around in the air has coated the glass above the work area.

Jelly beans were first invented in the 1800’s, and got their name because real beans were a big part of people’s diets in those days.  Presently, Jelly Bellies come in 107 different flavors.  I’m not a big jelly bean eater, but I do remember tasting the buttered popcorn bean about 20 years ago and was shocked at how the taste certainly reminded me of popcorn.  I still don’t know how exactly they do that.

We got to taste some unusual flavors along the way at several of the stations, and at the end you get a free bag of 20 different flavors to take with you.  I’m saving that bag for some friends I’ll be meeting tomorrow in Nevada City.  They couldn’t pick out a favorite flavor for me to get them at the factory, so they’ll get the variety.

As for me, I got a small bag of buttered popcorn, and a small bag of caramel corn Jelly Bellies.  They also make chocolate candy there, so of course I got some of those.  No chocolate covered sponge candy, though.   I’m thinking those beans will work well as a little snack when I’m driving the rig down the road.  A shot of sugar should help me stay alert.  Ha ha!

Oh yeah, President Reagan’s favorite flavor was licorice…

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy