Day 16-18: Homeward Bound. Oct 18-20, 2007

We broke camp early on Thursday and headed North up the Oregon coast. The winds were gusting 30-50 mph which made for some spectacular ocean views.








Bruce was quite busy clutching the steering wheel with all the wind gusts pushing the Westy around and also prudently keeping one eye glued to the temperature gauge. I am sure we were the only folks driving Hwy 101 in a winter storm with our windows down! Our instructions to drive with the heater and fan on full blast seem to be doing the trick as the dreaded red light has not appeared yet on the temperature gauge.

We spent a very rainy/windy night at Beverly Beach State Park Thursday night. I think we were the first campers to break camp by 7:00. The wind was blowing so hard that sea foam was blowing over the road and onto the Westy. The unusual thing here is, we were driving on a cliff about 200 ft above the ocean!!! Ah, the thrill of the road.

We had a delightful diversion in the afternoon as we visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at Cape Disappointment State Park by Ilwaco, WA.

Time well spent, well worth the hour it takes to travel through time with these amazing explorers. The wind had been gusting here on Thursday at 75 mph. We were even having a difficult time bracing ourselves against the onslaught.

Friday afternoon we decided it would be better to camp along the peaceful Hood Canal vs. landing in Seattle for the 4:00 afternoon rush. We camped at Twanoh State Park where we again had a very rainy night, but the Westy did not let us down as we were still nice and dry in the morning. We continued on home to journeys end via the Bremerton Ferry and slipped on home with our minds reflecting on our wonderful adventures, including the ups and downs, over the last 18 days.

There And Back Again, to be continued.............

Day 14-15 –- Westy Almost Fixed, Back to The Lake House, and On to Brookings, Tuesday - Wednesday, October 16-17, 2007

We finally got the van back on Tuesday afternoon with the leak fixed but the “normal” temperature now at ~ ¾ of maximum. Stephan (Stephan’s Auto Autohaus) said we should be able to make it home (if we were careful, drove slow, and kept the heater on). It seemed we didn’t have much of a choice unless we wanted to spend weeks in Sacramento living in our one set of clothes (Di wanted to travel light). So we decided to head for the lake house and get ready for a trip home.

Wednesday morning we got up about 6:30 AM, got the house all secured, Westy packed, and then began our journey north via the Redwoods. The Westy was definitely running hotter than we have ever seen it so we cranked the heater to high, opened the windows, and kept the eyes glued to the gauge. Going up hills really increased the pucker factor as we watched the gauge go higher yet!!!! The high temps finally gave us the name for the Westy that we have been searching for – Hot Tamale or Tamale for short. We plan to look for a chili pepper decal for the window. After a long day we finally made it safely to Brooking and back to Harris Beach State Park, almost feels like home. We took a nice walk to the beach look out and then settled in for some of Di’s “special” chicken soup, some Oreo bites, and a full bottle of wine (man did we need it). Life is good. Tomorrow we will motor up the Oregon coast and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Day 10-12 – Rainy Day Reading Books, Seeing Good Friends in Sacramento and The Westy Really Burps Bad - Oct 12-15

The rain finally arrived in force last Friday at the lake and it remained cool all day. We both spent the majority of the day enjoying a fire in the fireplace and reading library books we had brought from home. A nice way to sit out the storm and it was good to know that the critical plumbing work was done and the hole was nicely covered with gravel, dirt and bark.

Saturday we headed down to Sacramento to see the Honea's, our good friends from the "oil patch" days. We hadn't seen them in a number of years so it was really nice to be able to catch up. Saturday night we went to Emily's high school marching band competition. We both really enjoyed ourselves doing something completely new and it was fun to see all the youthful energy and creativity.

Sunday around 1PM we headed out for a stop at Costco in Sac, then on to Home Depot in Woodland, and then back to the lake house. Our auto GPS mapped us right to Costco perfectly. I decided to check our engine oil (trying to take really good care of the Westy) and noticed that engine coolant was leaking big time (no fooling around this time) so we called AAA and were towed back to Brain and Nancy's. Then it was time to surf then web and find a hopefully good VW van mechanic. I was able to find excellent reviews on a shop within a few miles of the Honea's. I called first thing when Monday they opened and the owner said he could get me in, "sweet" !!! So we called AAA again, had the van towed to the shop, and met with the mechanic. It turns out the Westy's (or Vanagon's) are notorious for cooling system problems due to the weight of the vehicle and engine size. Anyway the shop called later in the morning and it looks like we should have it back today. We will then head back to the lake house and make a decision about where we go next (home or ????).

Day 7-9 – Stormy Weather, Plumbing Repair Success and Fun Lake House Chores – Tuesday - Thursday, October 9-11, 2007

The side trip to the lake house has been good despite some stormy weather. I was able to get in one swim late Monday after our arrival. The water was cool but refreshing after the anxiety filled journey from Garberville the overheated Westy.

On Tuesday we ventured out to Lakeport for some groceries, hardware supplies, and some time at a WiFi location. We had lunch at Victoria’s Café on Main Street had lunch and did some e-mail and blogging. Nice location but we need to some find something where we don’t buying a meal just to get some internet time.

We checked out the main water line plumbing repair also on Tuesday and decidedly initially that the leak was so minor that we could let go and continue to monitor. The middle of the night brought some well-reasoned second thinking and we both decided that I had better take another stab at the repair. The memory of the wet ground and tree fall at home last winter was still too real. So Wednesday I started the day by re-doing the end of the new piping where I had a galvanized union and following the plastic to metal join instructions that were in the book that John Dolmar lent me. Well after a four or five hours of careful work and some re-piping I had success with no leaks at either end. Wahoo!!!!

Today (Thursday) we spent the day filling in the water pipe hole, cutting firewood from beach logs, and general yard maintenance (Diane always enjoys the chance to clip, rake, hose off things so she was in heaven). After the morning’s work we both read and then took a short nap, it felt so good to be able to do that in the middle of the day. After the nap I started to work on the roasted lemon chicken for dinner. My kind of fun.

Day 6-7 – The Westy Burps and We Detour to The Lake House- Monday-Tuesady, October 8,9, 2007

Well our journey southward into California proved to be interesting. Our rough plan had been to stop at Patrick Point State Park near Trinidad. The AAA camp book made it seem nice with sites near the ocean. The reality turned out to be quite different. Only one campground loop was open and the sites looked to be hacked out of the berry brambles. The bonus was the potential fellow campers we saw that evoked strains of the banjo music from Deliverance. We both felt an uneasiness that said we should hit the road and move south.

We finally arrived at a really nice campsite in the middle of the Humboldt State Redwoods State Park at the Burlington Campground. The peace and serenity of the campground was just what we needed. The next morning we hiked the Founder's Grove Loop. It was an incredible glimpse into a part of our world that reminds us how tiny and insignificant we humans can be compared to trees as old as 2500 years. Truly awe inspiring.

Back on the road we headed south for another beach experience at Fort Bragg or Mendocino. Not so fast. We had a bit of reality introduced into our trip when the Westy decided to overheat and start dripping more oil than normal. We were in Garberville at the time and seemed to be surrounded by decidedly unfriendlies. Given we that we both had acid stomaches we decided it best to head to the lake house to regroup. Good decision on the weather front also as it looks like a major storm has set in for several days at least.

Day 5 – Onward to Californ ia– Sunday, October 7, 2007

Well after a wonderful two days at Harris Beach State Park we are off to California. The weather and the beach views were beyond belief with seastacks, arches, and brown pelicans. We will definitely be back if it is only to experience the outstanding hot showers !

Day 3 – Onward to Brookings, OR - Friday, October 5, 2007

It is Friday morning and we are headed out for another day of Oregon Coast vistas. The quasi-destination for the day was Brookings, Oregon. We figured that we needed to be settled in early due to the higher volume of weekend campers. The coastline scenes continued to be beauty beyond belief with exception of a US 101 stretch that veered inland, still a peaceful relaxing drive but less scenic than the ocean. We arrived in Brookings at 3:30 (sunshine and blue skies and started looking for a place to stay. Our hope was to find a place that had showers ( by now we need one), maybe WiFi, and close by access to a laundry mat. We first checked out some local RV parks but after one look at all the road slugs parked on concrete we decided to head back to Harris Beach State Park. This turned out to be a very good choice because the park is beautiful, has hot showers (wahoo, they felt good), has WiFi which we are told works if you try it by the park building, and best of all has an incredible beach area complete with sea stacks and tide pools. We spent the evening getting our clothes washed, enjoying the campfire and making some phone calls. Dinner was “interesting” – good salad with homemade vinaigret, really bad Tasty Bite brand Pad Thai (tasted like spicy spaghetti O’s), and leftover homemade apple sauce (got rid of the icky Pad Thai taste).

Day 2 – Cruising the Oregon Coast - Thursday, October 4, 2007

We hit the road at about 9:30 AM and set out to explore the central Oregon Coast. This is the concept of motoring really came into play. We stopped throughout the day to enjoy the outstanding scenery. It is hard to believe that someone (Governor West) in the early 1900’s had the foresight to save so many miles of the Oregon for all of us to enjoy. Truly an American treasure.

We made an early stop for the day at Beachside State Park near Yachats. Most of the prime campsites were reserved but we managed to find one that was private and had an ocean view. After getting the Westy all level and arranged we took a nice long beach walk and then had a dinner of smoke salmon fettuccine made with some of the canned salmon we had purchased in Ilwaco. Ahh, life is good !!! We took in a beautiful sunset and then settled about 7:30 in for another long night in bed. This is probably the best sleeping that both of have had in longer than we can remember.

Day 1 – The Journey Begins – Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Last Friday I said Aloha (not good bye) to all of the wonderful Boeing Everett Safety, CSCHA and Environmental staff and began the start of a whole new book in life called retirement. You gave me a special send off that I will never forget.

Diane and I have been looking forward to the day when we could begin our road trips around America. Well the day we have looked forward to for so long is now finally here. We are leaving a little later than planned because Diane’s mom took a fall last Saturday and broke a few ribs. We got her into our very special family doctor (Dr. Cotton) on Monday and also arranged extra care for her while we are out of town. She was doing better as of Wednesday so we decided we could hit the road.

We took off from our house 8:30 A.M. in what I would call a bit of organized chaos. All in all we managed to get most everything done on the many list we had been keeping. First stop was at Steph and Pat’s for donuts, coffee, and some fun grandparent time with Syd and Sara.

We said our good-byes around 10 AM and started down the road in the Westy. Our plan was to head down to Olympia and then cut over towards the Washington coast. After we turned off I-5 we decided we were officially “motoring” which means we had no specific destination and no schedule. The drive was beautiful with mixed clouds, a little light rain, and some sun. The scenery was beautiful and the back roads offer a glimpse of our country that reminds you of the richness, beauty, and peace that you can still find if you just get off the beaten path.

Our first road meal was at the port in Ilwaco where we stopped at the Imperial Schooner and had fried seafood and cold beer. The scenery with the boats in the harbor was beautiful, the service was outstanding, and the food was good enough.

After lunch we headed back down US 101 towards Astoria, Oregon. Based on a recommendation from Kyle (Thanks!), we thought we might try Fort Stevens State Park for our first night. After a stunning drive over the Columbia River via the Astoria Bridge we arrived at the park at about 3:30 PM. We did get briefly lost but thanks to our new auto GPS (Thanks Tanya and Brian !!!!) we got back on track right away. After settling into camp (nobody else on our loop) we started a nice fire, took a walk to the beach, and the settled into the Westy for the evening. It rained really hard during the middle of the night but was basically blue skies when we awoke the next morning.