OREGON COAST RALLY - DAY 2

The morning started with hot egg casserole's, fruit, & home baked bread, prepared by Betty Simon, and Dottie Poole.  What a great way to start the day, thanks girls.  After breakfast, we car pooled about 30 miles back to Tillamook, then east on Hwy 6, to the Oregon State Tillamook Forest Center.
On display at the entrance, is a rebuilt forest fire lookout, representing hundreds, if not thousands of these vanguards that were built all across the U.S.  The folks who staffed these isolated lookouts during the fire seasons, faced long hours of keeping watch over the forests, with little creature comforts.

Behind the visitors center, this suspension bridge spans the Wilson River.

This 1930 Ford Truck was the equivalent of our modern day fire truck.

A view from the top of the fire lookout tower.

One of the interns gave us a brief tour of the surrounding forest, with lots of information about the devastating forest fires that plagued the area between 1933 and 1951.  The original old growth forest was mostly cedar trees, and after the replanting of millions of seedlings, it is now dominated by Douglas Fir Trees.  Our trail bosses, Bob & Dottie Poole, and Kurt & Betty Simon brought sandwiches for lunch, which we enjoyed on the deck leading to the suspension bridge.

On the way back to the motor homes, we stopped at the very busy Tillamook Cheese Factory, where somehow, 3 bowls of ice cream ended up on our table.  Not wanting to be wasteful, we just had to eat it, while continuing to vow that we were  going on a diet when we got home.

During our social hour, Dottie presented the birthday girl - Barb Westerfield, with a giant birthday card.

Around 5pm, we car pooled a short distance north from Garibaldi, to the Pirates Cove Restaurant, with a great view of Tillamook Bay.   We continued our "eat to live, live to eat" lifestyle, where most everyone enjoyed some sort of seafood dinner.  The food was good, and our server worked her butt off, taking care of us "seniors".  It was a busy day, with more of the same planned for today.  First stop is the Tillamook Air Museum, with the highlight of the rally this evening, when we all board the Oregon Coast Scenic RR dinner train.

Old Mill RV Park - $30  Cumulative - $1,676.92

TILLAMOOK, OR TO GARIBALDI, OR

Under cloudy skies, we followed Tom & Barb Westerfield out of the Elks RV Park, and headed north on Hwy 101, destination - The Mill RV Park in Garibaldi.  As we rolled through Tillamook, it would have been hard NOT to notice that all 3 of us were towing Jeep Liberty's behind our motor homes.  Tom & Barb recently replaced their Jeep Grand Cherokee, with a white Liberty, pictured above.

 A view of the Garibaldi Marina from the back of the Mill RV Park.

Yesterday's move has to be a record low for us, in terms of miles traveled in a day.  The drive from the Elks Park south of Tillamook, to the Mill RV Park in Garibaldi, was a grand total of 16 miles.  I was still getting comfortable in the drivers seat, and all of a sudden, we were here!

The focus of this rally is a railroad, as is the case with most all of our Golden Spike get togethers.  On Saturday evening, we'll all be riding the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad dinner train, which will take us from Garibaldi, north to Wheeler, and return.  Bob & Dottie Poole, and Kurt & Betty Simon are the "trail bosses" who have organized this rally.

We spent most of the afternoon visiting with our Golden Spike friends, then met everybody at the group room, where the pot luck dinner provided more than enough food.  After a chapter business meeting, we all retired to our motor homes, and called it a day.

Barb's taking a picture of me, taking a picture of her.

 

 L to R, Ron Slavicek, Ed & Anita Price.

Miles traveled - 16  Cumulative miles - 8,351
Mill RV Park - $30  Cumulative - $1,646.92

WATERFALLS & SEAFOOD

When Patty & Nancy returned from a grocery shopping, and yes, a quilt store expedition into Tillamook, we drove a short distance south on Hwy 101.  Our destination was one of the highest waterfalls in Oregon.   At 319 feet from top to bottom, Munson Creek Falls is accessible by a short walk from the parking area.  This is not the best time of year to view a large volume of water cascading down the rocks, however, there was enough to make the 1/4 mile trek worthwhile.

 The trail to the waterfall passes through an old growth forest.

By the time we got back to the motor homes, it was mid afternoon, and we just kind of hung out until about 5pm, when we headed north to Bay City.  Tom & Barb got a tip on a really good place for seafood, and when Nancy checked YELP (restaurant rating guide) on her Iphone, "The Fish Peddler" came up with a rare 5 star rating.  Let the mouth watering begin!

In the small community of Bay City (between Tillamook & Garibaldi), the building pictured below is located at the end of a small wharf.  It looks more like a fish processing business, than it does a restaurant.  In fact, as we were walking up to the building, I asked the question "are you sure they serve food here"?  Well, the answer is yes, and boy did we find a good place for all things fishy, with reasonable prices.  It turns out that this business also processes oysters, and part of the restaurant is separated by glass from that processing area.   Being later in the day, we watched a very thorough cleanup taking place on the other side of the glass.

If you're looking for the ambiance & atmosphere of an upscale restaurant, this place isn't for you.  But, if great seafood is what you're looking for, this IS the place.  Between the 5 of us, we had clam chowder, oyster stew, fish stew, green salad, crab & shrimp sandwiches, & crab cakes.  Everyone agreed, it was some of the best prepared seafood we had ever eaten.  We also agreed, this place was going to get our business again before we left the area.

It's drizzling this morning, as we prepare to move north just a few miles.  Our Golden Spike Chapter of the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Ass'n), starts a rally today in Garibaldi.  This will be one of the shortest travel days (approx. 10 miles) ever, so this may be a 2 cup morning.

3 CAPES SCENIC DRIVE

The quilt sisters first order of business yesterday, was a drive into Tillamook, where you guessed it....
there is yet another fabric/yarn/quilt store.  While they were gone, I found a drive through car wash, and now the Jeep is almost as shiny as the motor home.  When I got back, the girls had returned, and we set off for a scenic drive on the 3 capes road.

This coastal road hugs the ocean between Pacific City on the south, and Tillamook Bay on the north.  We started by driving to the Pacific City Thousand Trails, where we'll be staying for a few days after our Golden Spike RV Rally in Garibaldi.  It's been about 3 years since we last stayed at this park, and there has been a major change as to where RV's enter the park.  The old driveway entrance is still usable by cars, but the RV entrance has moved about 500 feet to the east.  Now, there's more room to park while registering, particularly when you take your towed vehicle to look for a suitable site to situate the RV.  I'm glad we found this out in the Jeep, and not in the motor home.

 These islands off Cape Meares, are noted for the several tunnels through the rock.

The drive from Pacific City north to Cape Meares, passes by Cape Kiwanda, Cape Lookout, and the small communities of Netarts, and Oceanside.  Fortunately, we were blessed with a perfectly sunny day, light wind, and temps in the high 60's, low 70's.  We stopped at a few vista points, before coming to the end of the road at Cape Meares.  The road goes beyond, but was blocked by barricades, and signs that read "road closed".  When we left, we had to back track about 3-4 miles to Netarts, where the road returned to Tillamook.

The Cape Meares Lighthouse is one of 9 built along the Oregon Coast in the late 1800's, and 7 are open for public viewing.  This particular lighthouse was activated in 1890, serving until 1963, when it was decommissioned.  The ocean views from the Cape are pretty awesome, but be prepared for about 1/4 mile walk down to the light from the parking lot.   The down part isn't bad, it's the up part that gives the lungs a bit of a workout.

When we got back to the motor homes, Tom & Barb had returned, and we all piled into our Jeep for a drive into Tillamook, where we had seafood at a small place across from the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  Not sure what's happening today, but tomorrow, we'll be moving a short distance up the coast to Garibaldi, and a reunion with our Golden Spike friends.

NEWPORT, OR TO TILLAMOOK, OR

 On the bridge, passing over the entrance to Depoe Bay.

We only had a short drive yesterday.  The N/B route from Whalers Rest Thousand Trails RV Park to the Elks RV Park south of Tillamook, was only 71 miles.  The short drive notwithstanding, part of Hwy 101 south of Tillamook is pretty narrow, it's curvy, and if you're in a hurry, this isn't a section of road that you can make any time.  Leaving late morning, we arrived at the Elks Park a little before noon.  For the first time in two weeks, we're back in a Sprint service area, and even though it's slow, our Internet device, and our phone are both working.........Yea!

 Arriving at the Tillamook Elks RV Park.

As we discovered with the Elks campground in Florence, the RV Park is out of town, away from the lodge.  The same is true of the Tillamook park, which is located approx. 5 miles south of town.  Nancy is the Elks member, and she had taken care of the reservations.  This park, for Elks & their guests, has 20 full hookups, and is $20 a night.   On the drive north, we discovered by phone, that Barb & Tom Westerfield were also staying at the Tillamook Elks.  We'll all be attending the Golden Spike RV Rally this weekend in Garibaldi.

Barb & Tom's motor home in between ours, and Nancy's.

 

After we got parked, we drove into Tillamook, had an OK lunch at the Rodeo steakhouse, then drove by the Tillamook Air Museum on the way back to the motor homes.  A visit to this very unique building, that at one time was the home for airships during WWII, is on the upcoming rally schedule, so we just drove by, and took some pictures.

Barb & Tom returned from a day of crabbing, and we had a nice visit, catching up on all of the latest.
We'll be parked here for two more nights, before we move up to Garibaldi for our rally, the highlight being a dinner train ride. 

Miles traveled - 71  Total miles since leaving Tucson - 8,335
Tillamook Elks RV Park - $20  Total RV Parks - $1,616.92

MOVING DAY

I've been a little under the weather the past few days, but today, even though the weather is still overcast, I'm feeling better.   This morning, we're traveling north, with the Tillamook Elks RV park as our destination.  We'll be there for 3 nights, before moving a little farther north to Garibaldi, where our Golden Spike RV Group is putting on a rally, starting on the 15th.   Next post from Tillamook.

WORK PLACE VIOLENCE?

Let me start by saying that I purposely try to keep politics, and other polarizing issues out of this blog, but sometimes I just can't help myself.  When I hear the term "work place violence", I typically think of co-workers who let their emotions get the best of them, and arguments escalate to physical violence.  Or, another situation that comes to mind, is the disgruntled employee who plots revenge against a supervisor, or other employees for perceived unfair treatment.  There are obvious other scenarios that fit into the "work place violence" category, but one that definitely does not is the Fort Hood massacre that took place about 4 years ago. 

The current military trial of Nadal Hassan for the murders of 13, and the wounding of 30, has brought this deliberate government mis-characterization back into the spotlight.  I can only speculate as to why our federal government refuses to call this obvious act of terrorism for what it was.  I'm sure that one of the  reasons is to try and minimize it's impact, thereby keeping closer to the political narrative that terrorism is being defeated.  There probably are other reasons, but no matter what they are, the classification of this tragedy as "work place violence" is simply wrong. 

When an individual tried to bring down a commercial airliner with a bomb in his shoe, that attempt was officially classified as an act of terrorism.  In a similar  incident, another individual placed explosives in his clothing, also attempting to bring down an aircraft carrying civilians.  In both of these acts of terror, a single individual plotted to kill innocent people in the perverted name of Islam. Had either one of those attempts succeeded, the families of the victims would have been eligible for specific government benefits.  The families of the 911 victims received those benefits, but because the Fort Hood act of terrorism has been classified as "work place violence", the victims and their families are not eligible, nor are the deceased & wounded military personnel eligible for the purple heart medal. 

Now, those victims who survived Hassan's deliberate act of terrorism, are having to relive the event, as many are testifying at his trial.  A few of those victims are even being cross examined by this sicko, as he serves as his own counsel. Even though there has been outrage from the Fort Hood community, and some objections from politicians, the "work place violence" label seems to have stuck.  For whatever reason, it's a damn shame that those in our government, who have the authority to classify these incidents for what they are, have refused to recognize the Fort Hood massacre for what it is - AN ACT OF TERRORISM!

SKY MED VS. M.A.S.A

More cleaning yesterday, and I do believe we're getting close to putting both rigs back to where they were before we left for Alaska.  Nancy was having a problem with lots of white streaks coming down the sides of her motor home.  I knew that the only way to at least temporarily eliminate that problem, was to thoroughly clean the roof.  After I finished with that chore, I washed and waxed about half of  our motor homes drivers side.  At 4pm, we sat in on our second medical air evacuation presentation this week, this one by Medical Air Services Ass'n (MASA).

I'll try and be brief, and not get bogged down with all the details.  I think it's pretty much universally agreed, that Sky Med and MASA are the two premier medical evacuation programs available.  When it comes to the basics like ground ambulance, helicopter ambulance, or fixed wing medical ambulances, both programs are very similar.  They each cover all of the above, no matter whether you're home, or traveling,  They also cover things like getting your RV, your pets, your children/grand children back home from where ever you happen to have a serious illness, or injury.  After listening to both presentations, it was predictable that both presenters insisted that their company was the industry gold standard by which all other programs attempt to equal. 

The big difference is cost.   MASA offers a lifetime membership at $4,490 for a family, or $3,390 for an individual.  The maximum term for Sky Med is 8 years, at $2,695 for an individual, and a few hundred more for a family.  Both companies also offer year to year contracts. 

After listening to both presentations, Nancy opted to go with MASA, and wrote a check for a lifetime membership.  We purchased a lifetime family MASA membership about 3 years ago.  When you look at the cost of ambulances, particularly helicopters, and fixed wing aircraft, it's easy to see that without this type of insurance, the bank account would take a huge hit very quickly.  Standard medical insurance & medicare usually pick up a portion of ground ambulance costs, however, it's often only a small percentage of the actual billing.  These two programs pick up the difference.  They're not for everybody, but as with any type of insurance, they do provide peace of mind that a ride in an ambulance, or an aircraft isn't going to cost you thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands of dollars.

RESTORING THE SHINE

Right side of the picture is after washing and a fresh coat of wax.

In between being dragged to more woman stores than I can count, I've been working on getting layers, and layers of road grime off the motor home.  Driving to Alaska does have some negatives.  While we were in Coburg, Nancy had her motor home washed at a truck stop.  Our 3 days were filled with appointments, which took up more time, limiting the opportunity to have someone else wash our rig.  Knowing that we would be parked for 2 weeks in Newport, I decided to wait, and do the cleaning myself.
  

Before

This Thousand Trails park allows you to wash your rig at your site, if you purchase a $5 wash permit.  It's only good for a few days, but since I've been bucket washing a section at a time, I really don't need the permit.  I got it anyway, just in case there were any questions.  Starting at the front several days ago, I finished up the back yesterday.  With the drivers side remaining, I should be finished before we leave Whalers Rest.

After

This afternoon, we're attending  a presentation by M.A.S.A. (Medical Air Services Ass'n), the chief competitor to Sky Med.  Both programs are considered the premier companies, with other competitors offering less, for less cost.  One example is the FMCA program that is offered for about $100 a year.  For that price, the level of service is much less than M.A.S.A. or Sky Med, but as they say, you get what you pay for.  I'll get into the comparisons tomorrow in greater detail.

GUNS & CRAB

What do the two have in common?  Well, on the surface, probably not very much.  But, when you've been out numbered for months by the quilt sisters, who spend every spare minute in woman stores, then these two items take on an appropriate gender narrative.   Among other things, guns & crabs represent hunting and fishing.  Even though I'm not an active participant in either, I think most folks would agree, that hunting & fishing is more of a "guy" thing.  Yesterday, while the world record seeking girls were driving back south to a Florence quilt store, I headed to the local Fred Meyer Store for a visual taste of some male testosterone.

Even though I'm not looking to purchase a firearm, just seeing all of those guns, instead of pink fabrics, gave me a restored sense of hope.  When I left Freddie's, I had a positive feeling, that I wasn't forever destined to be caught up in downward spiral of being dragged into every woman store in the northwest.

On the way back to Whalers Rest, I stopped at our favorite fish store, and purchased a single, freshly cooked, intact crab.  At $12.95 a lb. the price is a whole lot better than the $34.95 a lb. price for fresh crab meat.  This was sort of an experiment to see if there's a cost benefit to buying a whole crab, or paying more for just the crab meat.  You would think that cracking your own crab would be cheaper.

Wrong............I paid $26.45 for the slightly larger than 2 lb. crustacean.  When I finished cleaning every last bit of crab meat from the critter, I ended up with just a little over 1/2 lb. of crab meat.  If I had purchased the same amount of already cracked crab meat, it would have cost about $20.  The moral to this story is that bargains aren't always what they appear to be.

It was a good day to be a guy, and the reward was fresh crab for lunch.  The clincher was that I didn't see even one piece of pink fabric.

A DRIVE ON A BACKROAD

The order of business yesterday was to first take a drive north from Toledo, along the Siletz River, returning to the ocean north of Depoe Bay.  Patty and I had taken this scenic drive a few years ago, which passes through the small town of Siletz.  But first, we had to drive east on highway 20 to Toledo where the turnoff is located.  As we approached Toledo, I heard a familiar question...."Can we stop at the quilt store in Toledo"?   Oh crap!  I thought by driving out on the back roads, that question would be entirely off the table.  Now what?  If I even hinted that "no" was a possible answer, then I'd be in the eternal doghouse, so really, the only answer was "sure honey, I'll be glad to stop anywhere you want".   When we pulled up to the front of the store, I looked around for any kind of guy store, but nothing was to be seen.  When I wandered into the woman store, at least there was a place to sit, and a kitty cat waiting to be petted.  I guess I should be thankful for the little things in life.

Near the end of the 30 mile drive, we checked out the Chinnok Bend RV Park on the Siletz River.  Nothing fancy, but they did have their own boat ramp, and if fishing is your deal, then this would be a good place to put your boat in the water.

 A view north from an ocean viewpoint north of Depoe Bay.

On the drive back to Newport, we drove down to the harbor at Depoe Bay, where the "hole in the wall gang" detachment of the Coast Guard is stationed.  Just as we were leaving, one of the two rescue boats was returning to the harbor.

We finished the day with a Sky Med presentation, concluding with a free chicken dinner.  Day after tomorrow, we'll be listening to a MASA seminar, which we are lifetime members.  Both plans are considered the Cadillacs of the air evacuation industry, and I'll have some thoughts on the two plans in a later blog.