We're in Washington State, #3

Post Two - 7:00 pm 

We are just over the border into Washington.

We crossed over the Columbia river and into Washington State this afternoon.  So now we have three states on our map.  Yeah!

I'm typing this as we are parked in a rest area.  We went up the 101 to Astoria, OR and over the Astoria Bridge, which stretches 4.1 miles from Astoria, Oregon, across the mouth of the Columbia River, to Point Ellice, Washington.  The main span is 1,232 feet in length, the longest “continuous truss” in the nation.  It is a very cool looking bridge, and loooong.  My favorite bridge so far.  

Astoria Bridge - Oregon side.

I accidentally deleted my beginning photos of the bridge, so the photo above is courtesy of Oregon Department of Transportation, an on-line photo.

 Starting to head down.

Still going down.

About halfway through the second “structure,” we were in Washington:

 I almost got the sign. :) 
 

 Going down to one lane - what's going on?

They were painting sections of the structure on the Washington side.  It was down to one lane, and draped on the sides and top, very weird feeling driving through.

This is a very long bridge, before I got on it, we went over a drawbridge, then through a large structure under which boats/ships can sail on the Oregon side, then over a long bridge, into the second structure, which is a series of seven smaller structures on the Washington side.  Two are being painted. 

 Drop cloths on the top and sides of two sections.

We came off the bridge and turned right toward the Rest Area shown on a sign, just a mile, I think, from the bridge end.  It’s very nice with a panoramic view of the water and the entire Astoria Bridge.  In Oregon the rest stops said overnights are prohibited, they sounded very serious about it, but this rest stop has a sign asking to "Please limit your stay to eight hours," so I’m going to try to spend the night here and leave early in the morning.  We’ll see how that works – keep your fingers crossed that we don’t get the dreaded KNOCK.

 How would you like to own this house?

It overlooks the mouth of the Columbia River

and the Astoria Bridge.  Nice.

 Gorgeous view of the Columbia River from the Rest Stop.

Lots of boats out today.  I can also see five huge commercial ships from here.

 View of the bridge on this side, showing the painter's drop cloths.

My patience is being tested and my knowledge expanded, that’s for sure.  When we packed up to leave at noon today from Pleasant Valley RV Park, all I had to do was unplug the electric cord and bring down the TV (that didn’t work there) antenna.  While I was turning the TV antenna handle, it came off in my hand.  Then the spring dropped to the table.  I got out the antenna instructions and tried and tried to get it back on, but it didn’t work, then the wire dropped again and I couldn’t find it.

The antenna was almost down, but not completely.  I remembered once, at the very beginning in May, driving with the antenna like this, when I thought I had lowered it completely, but not quite.  That worked out okay, so I thought I’d try again.  The antenna was level with the height of the roof A/C unit, so it wasn't sticking up much.

As I was driving along, the ceiling plate dropped out onto the table.  I was a little worried that these things were holding it together and the whole antenna would fly of the roof and hit someone.  But that didn't happen - I guess they are installed better than that.

We got here to the Rest Stop okay, and I got out some tools and the instructions again.  Just didn’t work, so I turned the metal bar (elevating shaft) that the handle attaches to with pliers, and the antenna went all the way down.  Whew!  So that was okay now.  I tried again to attach the handle, and I think I’ve got it.  We’ll see next time I try to raise the antenna.  But at least I won't be driving with the antenna part way up.

Everything else went well today.  We drove for around four hours.  I wanted to limit my time on the road because I slept so little last night, only about three hours.  I went back to bed at 5:30 am, after I published the first post this morning, and I finally fell asleep until around 8:45.

I was feeling fine while I was driving, but I know I’m not 100 percent on three hours sleep.  So we’ll stay here tonight and start out early tomorrow refreshed.

I don’t know where we’re going tomorrow, but I have a couple of ideas.

From Me and Katie, have a good Thursday evening, everyone!  : )

We're in Tillamook, OR

Post One - 5:30 am

WELCOME to Connie and Barry!  They don't have a blog, but do have a Class B RV - a Gulfstream Vista Cruiser - that they enjoy when they aren't at their farmhouse in PA or their beach house in DE.  The best of both worlds?  No, that's the best of three worlds.  Thanks for following along with me and Katie, Connie!  : )

Tuesday, the plan was to go to town and do laundry, get gas and do a little shopping to get ready to move on Wednesday. Unfortunately, when I tried to start the truck at around 1:00, it wouldn't start.  It made that weird noise when the battery isn't charging.  So I called Good Sam Road Service and they sent someone out to give the truck a jump.  He said the battery is a 12 volt and was only charging 5 volts.  He said it's a 2006 battery and it's probably about shot.  I've never had a problem starting the truck until Tuesday, and so far it's been starting fine since they came out, so I've got my fingers crossed.  Having a new battery installed isn't very expensive, but I'd like this one to last a while for me.

I had forgotten that if I start my generator, there's a button on my dash I can push and the house batteries will charge the truck battery and start it.  The man who came out reminded me of that, and I won't forget again. I could have started it myself if I had remembered.  (I actually did push the button, but I didn't know the generator had to be running for it to work.)

By the time we got home it was around 7:30 and we were both pooped.  I put a quilt down on the pulled out couch, put clean pillow cases on the pillows and threw the down comforter without the duvet over us and we went to sleep.

When we woke up this morning, we were pretty much ready to go.  I put the bedding on the bunk - it's amazing how much easier it is to put together when I'm not tired.  Also, one of the hard things is putting the duvet on the comforter, there's no room in here to do it, but with the couch pulled out, the daybed was big enough to spread it out on, so that's what I'll do from now on.  Much easier than what I was doing before.

Katie and I took a little walk, got everything ready to go, and left at 12 noon.  Check out time.  When I unhooked the electric, I found a little frog in the box:

 Can you see the tiny frog?

I wasn't sure where we were going to go - there is a shopping center here called Valley River Center that I've heard about - it has all the big stores, Macy's, Penny's, Sees Candies, etc.  We drove there yesterday to check it out and to charge the truck battery.  I had been carrying around a gift certificate from See's for a while, so I stopped in and got a box of candy while we were there.

Anyway, on one far side of the parking lot, it borders a walking trail, I think a river, too, and it looked like a popular spot for bicyclists.  The shopping center allows RVs to park there free for two nights. A security guard comes around and kind of "checks people in" and lets them know he'll be patrolling the area, so it's safe.  Really nice.  I was thinking of staying there for two days.

 Hay all cut and stacked. I've never seen it stacked like this before.

Right down the road from Armitage Park.

But as we were heading out, I thought, why take a couple of days and live in a parking lot when I can be on my way.  I didn't need to do any shopping, and although it is a nice area with nice walking paths, it's not a park.  It's not a forest.  It's a parking lot.  For two days.  So I put Florence, OR in the GPS and we headed west.

We just drove all day and evening along the coast route.  We went through Florence, Wachats, Waldport, Newport, Depoe Bay, Lincoln City and all the little towns in between and ended up in Tillamook, OR.  I love driving along the coast, through the small towns; the roads were all good, no real construction slowing traffic.

I love going through these tunnels

Tunnel on Highway 126

My first glimpse of the ocean.

We went over a bunch of bridges - most have some sort of architectural structure making them different and interesting.

Bridge over Siuslaw River  taken in my rear view mirror.

We stopped here for lunch.

At Tokatee Klootchman

The three photos above are where we stopped for lunch along the side of the road.  It was super windy, so I took a few pics, walked Katie and went back into The Palms to fix lunch.  Egg salad sandwich and chips and dip.   I did a little research on the computer and had a little rest, then drove on.

Bridge over Ten Mile Creek

This was a cool looking bridge

I need a navigator - there's no way I can keep track of the bridges and tunnels so I don't remember the names unless there's a sign in the photo.

The only problem was, I didn't want to pay for a campsite tonight, and the only free place I could find was a Walmart south of here.  They said the city didn't allow parking, but they didn't care, and they didn't think anyone would bother me if I stayed overnight.  I thought about stopping there, but I wasn't done driving yet, I wanted to get further north, so I kept going.  There weren't any rest stops that allow overnights, and no other Walmarts close by after that one.

So, I had to break down and stop - around 8:00.  We went to a rest stop, but the signs said overnights were forbidden, so I got out the computer and searched for a nearby RV park.  Pleasant Valley RV park was right down the road about two miles, so we turned around and went back.  This is a $29/night for elect. and water, free wi-fi and cable (I can't get the cable to work) with a 10% Good Sam discount.  Add 1% room tax, and the total is $26.39.  Not too bad, and the park is clean and has nice amenities:  restrooms, showers, laundry, etc., and the wi-fi is good.  Walking paths along the Tillamook River and Mission Creek, which border it on two sides.

 And here we are!

One thing I've learned is that if I want free overnights while traveling, I can't travel along the coast.  The overnight rest stops and Walmarts are along the Interstates where the bigger cities are. At least that's what I'm finding so far.

I'm thinking of going to Seaside tomorrow, then down the 26 to Portland.  I've never been to Portland. I've got my Washington map on the Internet to check out tomorrow, and I'll figure out where I want to go next. 

Katie was snuggled up in bed around 9:00, she was sooooo ready, trying to jump up to the bunk.  She was totally zonked.

We are right on 101, but either there isn't much traffic this time of night, or the trees are sheltering us from the road noises, because it's very quiet. It is now 5 am, and I haven't slept a wink.  It seems when I have a long driving day, I'm either totally exhausted and sleep like a log, or I can't sleep much at all.  I vote for totally exhausted, but not this time.  I'd stay here another night, but the radio reception sucks, and I can't get the cable to work, and no antenna reception at all.

I'm guessing tomorrow will be a shorter driving day, or a good nap at a rest stop. So, tomorrow we are on our way again, heading north, then east a bit.

From Me and My Dog, have a great Thursday, everyone!  : )

Everything's fine, we're A-OK :)

WELCOME to our new followers:

Texas Yellow Rose, who has been blogging since January 2010 and is a workamper with her husband and dog.  Betty, I'm going to have to catch up on your blog, I went back a little, and hope I have the above info correct.  I look forward to following you, too.

Baby Blogging Boomer - this is another Barbara (I've never met a Barbara I didn't like).  She is not an RVer, but writes short interesting posts, and I enjoyed going back a bit and checking out her blog.  She lives in an apartment with a cat - Barbara, you need to put wheels on it and join us!

June - I don't see a blog listed for you, are you an RVer?  If you have a blog, or start one, let me know so I can follow you, too.

gypsy68,  I think I've seen your comments on other blogs, or maybe on the womenrv forum?  Anyway, gypsy68's blog is not for RVing, it's about a house remodel in 2009/2010, and is actually pretty interesting - did you get the rat?  If you are an RVer and start a blog, let me know! 

Thank you all for following me and my dog, Katie on our adventures in full time RVing.  So far it's better than I expected, and you're here right at the beginning, so there's lots more to come!

This was a good day to post with four new followers, since I really don't have much else to post about.  I've had some e-mails from people worried because I haven't posted in a while.  Don't worry, all is well.  Katie and I are just chilling.  It's so nice and peaceful here, and I've pretty much written about everything.  No more weird things, no rants, no photos that haven't already been posted.  But thank you for your concerns, I appreciate it.

Katie and I have had a couple of long walks in the last few days.  3+ miles, which is a lot for us.  We usually walk three times a day, but only one longer walk, maybe a mile.   The other day we walked as far as we could along the river, and found an opening in the fence that went to a country/ residential road, so we followed it for a while.  There were some interesting homes along the way, one in particular was beautiful, large lot, large buildings, great garden. We were pooped when we got back to The Palms, but went again the next day and walked further up that road. 

Along the road there were lots of "weeds" that were really pretty, I don't know what these are called, but I had to pick one to bring back for my little kitchen vase:

I think picking this was okay since it was a weed on the side of the road, 

but they have them in the park, too.

Here's another moss covered bench in the day use area - I love these benches:

The emergency vehicles have been out to the river twice more that I saw, but we weren't nearby, just saw them coming back from the river.  There must be a bad spot nearby where people get into trouble and need help getting out.  Water has never been my thing, but there are a lot of people who raft down the McKenzie river.

There was a full moon while we were here - it comes up later here than in San Diego because we're further north. In San Diego we saw the full moon rising earlier in the evening.

Lots of light in our bed when the moon came out from behind the trees.

I looked out the window, and there it was, a beautiful full moon.

 I also re-joined Netflix - I checked the site and found that there are many movies and TV shows that I've missed, so I decided to join while I have such super fast Internet here free in the park.  It's as fast as the cable Internet I had in the condo, and I've been watching lots of movies and got into a TV program that I'd never heard of, "New Street Law."  I'm really enjoying it.  If you like scarey, tense movies, this is a good one for you:  The Resident with Hilary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.  After we watched it, Katie and I walked along the river and I was kind of creeped out waiting for something to jump out at us.

We are leaving Armitage Park tomorrow before noon.  There is a 14 night limit in this county at their RV parks, and tonight is the 14th night for us.  I guess I'm about ready to move on, but it sure is nice here. It's going to be hard to beat this park in just about every area.  And they don't have a laundry or any real amenities, no pool or store, etc. but it's still a fabulous park.  Beautiful grounds, tons of trees, grass, the McKenzie River a short walk from our site.  I would definitely recommend this park, and come back if I'm in the area again.

Today I'm unhooking and going to town to do laundry, fill the tank, maybe a little grocery shopping. I had planned to do  all this tomorrow on our way to a new location, but last night while I was asleep, Katie was sick, so... The bedclothes are in the laundry bag and we'll go to town and take care of everything today.  That will actually give us something to do today and tomorrow will be easier. 

More in a day or so...

From Me and My Dog, have a great Tuesday, everyone!  : )

A weird day yesterday

WELCOME to our new followers!   diane has a 1961 Shasta travel trailer that she is repairing, looks like quite a job, good luck with your project, diane.  I'll enjoy following your progress!  Thanks for coming along with Me and My Dog, Katie.

Welcome also to hil,  I don't see a blog listed for you, hil, but I'm very happy you are following long with me and Katie on our adventures.

I think there is another new follower, but I can't figure out who it is - the number went up by three, but I only see diane and hil.  If you are a new follower and I haven't found you, let me know in a comment. : )

So...yesterday I unhooked the water and electricity  and battened down the hatches and off we went to shop.  First stop, Walmart.  Tuesday was such a weird day.

I parked back at the end of the parking lot and went into the coach to tell Katie I'll be right back, look out the side window, and this is what I see just driving up and parking:

 Yup.

Weird - they left the campground today and I was wondering where they go.  Well...

When I went into Walmart, I looked out the glass windows, and they were gone.  Freaky.

So then I get a cart and start walking, looking for food. It looked like a big store, but it turns out it wasn't a Super Walmart.   I'm heading toward a register to ask if they have any milk, etc., and there checking out at that register are Donna and Russ.  I rammed Russ with my cart to get their attention.  Gently, of course.  It was so funny.  So they re-directed me to the local Safeway, where I got my food.   Is it a small world, or what?

I drove a few miles to the Safeway and parked at the end of the parking lot where I could get two tandem spaces.  I had to pass some shops to get to the Safeway and found this American flag in a really cute store called The Shamrock.  It was in front of the store with other garden flags:

It's on one of those wrought iron holders that sticks into the lawn.  I've had neighbors who fly the flag, large American flags that fly from their RV roofs.  I don't want a big one, and I want one that is easy to put out, and this was perfect.

So, I buy the flag on it's holder and I'm carrying it to Safeway, like a VERY patriotic American.  I get one of the little carts, and attach it to the back to keep it out of the way.  You can imagine the curious looks I got.  And then I walked all the way back to The Palms with the flag flying in the breeze.  I had to laugh at myself.

Patriotic Shopping Cart

Later in the afternoon two Park Rangers stopped by to talk to Ginny, but she wasn't back to camp yet. They told me the Sheriff dropped the man from the restroom off at a detox unit.  I was really happy to hear that - for his sake and for ours.  Ginny was glad also when I told her. I'm sure she slept better last night knowing he wouldn't be back.

The Rangers came by again around 8:30 this morning to talk to Ginny before she left. They were interested in what she saw the man from the white bus doing with the porta potty contents, which was clearly against the rules.  She's packing up now and will be on her way to complete her vacation in other campgrounds.

Another beautiful, but weird, day in Eugene, Oregon.

This is my favorite campground so far.  It feels like I'm living in the middle of a beautiful park. Ginny said the traffic noises bothered her during the night, but I think that's because she's in a tent; they didn't bother me at all.  The weather here is the frosting on the cake, couldn't be better.

Today we're all hooked up and probably won't leave the campground until we are at the end of our 14 day reservation next week.   I'm going to take it easy until then and act like a retired lady.

From Me and My Dog, have a great Thursday, everyone!  : )

Flasher in the camp, white bus issue

I have a new neighbor, a solo woman who is tent camping and arrived yesterday morning.  She quickly set up her camp and drove away for the day.  When Katie and I passed her on our walk in the evening, I said "hi" and kept walking.  I got my Kindle and sat down outside for some reading, and a little while later she came over with a beer in her hand, for a visit.  This is Ginny:

Ginny from Reno

Our Kindle reading set-up - that chair is so comfortable!

Ginny is an artist, on vacation from Reno, NV and we had a nice chat.  The moon was coming up when she went back to her camp - it will be full soon.

Almost a full moon

This morning, Katie wanted down earlier than usual, so I got her down and we went out for a short walk.  I saw Ginny, so we walked over to her, and she was really upset.  Two things were going on.

The first is that she went to the restrooms at 6:30 that morning, and was flashed by a young man.  She insulted him and walked away, but kept her eye on him. Afterward, he came toward her campsite and sat under a tree watching her.  While we were talking, around 9:30, the guy was coming out of the men's room again, and walking away from us, sat down at a table in an empty site, and just sat there.  I went and got my camera and phone for Ginny to call 911.   The man walked past us on his way to the men's room again, and I got some good photos in case he was gone when the sheriff got there.

The alleged flasher

I know what you are thinking, I shouldn't have done this, it might have set him off.  We weren't this close, I had my camera at the highest magnification.  But... I also had Katie and the dog deterrent spray with me, and would have used it if needed. Ginny was there, it was daylight, and other people were there in the park close by.  It felt completely safe.  We didn't know that a Park Ranger was also watching.

The Park Ranger came over to us.  He said he figured we were calling the police when he saw us with the phone watching the man. He had been watching him for a couple of days, and had some previous reports.  But this is the first time he has flashed someone, at least that he knew.  Since Ginny reported what he did, that was a reason to get him out of the park.

Beyond Ginny's tent are the restrooms with the Sheriff and flasher

A Sheriff's car came, and he drove around and then came back and parked by the restrooms.  Then another Sheriff's car came into the campground and parked.  They both went over to the restrooms and talked to the man for a long time, then brought him to their cars and put him in one of them.

The Sheriff came over where we were waiting and took a report from Ginny.  She was kind of nervous, wanting to make sure he wouldn't come back and be there tonight.  What the Sheriff said was interesting.  The man is apparently schizophrenic and seemed drunk.  He had an ID, but only a couple of dollars on him. He is homeless with no transportation.  There is nothing they can do except drive him somewhere else and drop him off on a street corner.

The fact that he exposed himself to someone is not enough to hold him.  He had to have said something to her, or made a gesture, something other than just standing there with his pants down.  He admitted to the Sheriffs that his pants came down.  They are held up with twine, and he said they just fell down.  So there is nothing that can be done.  The Sheriffs did tell him not to come back here, or he will be arrested for trespassing.

Hopefully they will drop him off far away, and he won't make his way back to this park.  Ginny is leaving tomorrow morning.  She's going to Florence today, and I told her to stop and get a whistle to keep with her. She doesn't have a phone or anything to use in case of an emergency, I told her to think about getting a deterrent spray of some kind and a whistle that will wake some people in the campground and hopefully scare away anyone near her tent.

The second issue Ginny had this morning after coming out of her tent before 6:30 am involved the old white bus that I pictured in a previous post.  They've been back for a couple of days in the same spot one site away from mine.  Ginny said they were up, too, getting ready to leave.  The dad brought out their porta potty and proceeded to dump it on the ground (I showed her the sewer and she said that's probably where he dumped it).  Then he proceeded to rinse it out with the hose and dump the rest on the grass.  She said she could smell it.  They are gone now, with rice and apple slices and other pieces of food on the grass around the sewer hole.

She mentioned that , also, to the Park Ranger who came to talk to Ginny about the flasher.  Ginny told him the kids were filthy and someone should call Social Services.  He said this family comes and goes and has for a while, and Social Services has been out three times.  I guess they aren't doing anything actionable, although I don't think dumping their waste from a porta potty into an unsealed waste receptacle and then pouring out the rest on the grass is legal.  Before Ginny left for Florence, she went over to the office and told the Camp Host about what she saw.

The old white bus is back

I, for one, would be happy if they don't come back to this State Park.  I feel very sorry for the two young girls, but looking at the big picture, they are getting food, dry shelter, and two parents living under one roof along with their dog (who just had puppies - I wonder what will happen to the puppies), so maybe they are more fortunate than many little kids in our country.

Quite an interesting morning.  Katie and I are staying in camp today, doing our usual thing.  I may take off again, though, and find a supermarket where I can get little things like milk, coffee creamer, and cereal - not a Costco, I need regular sizes.  I'll need to dump later today, probably, my tanks are getting full, and once I hook up the sewer hose, I'll probably keep it hooked up until we leave next week and dump both the tanks again.  So I'd better shop today.

I love their water here.  When I tested it with my little Water Purity Tester, it registered at the lowest end of the scale - so few impurities, it was in the range of "water filtered using reverse osmosis, deionization,  microfiltration, distillation."  Pretty clean water!

I'm looking forward to a nice, easy day, and also to hearing about Florence from Ginny when she returns.  That's a place I plan to visit, myself.  I've heard good things about Florence, OR.

From Me and My Dog, have a great Wednesday, everyone!  : )