Grocery Shopping, The Captain's Wheel, and Plans

Garibaldi, OR.
54 deg. rain, SW winds @ 10 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 61 deg. rain, SW winds @ 15 mph.

Again, yesterday was a slow day. Jim put his bike back into the back of CLT because they are forecasting rainy weather for the remainder of our stay here. (We leave tomorrow). Then he and Linda went to the little grocery store here in Garibaldi and picked up some much needed groceries. Then, last night, they went to a restaurant here in town called the Captain's Wheel. They said the food was really good. Other than that, I really don't have anything to report.

Speaking of the weather, it sounds like we're going to be in for quite a long rainy spell. I was looking at the weather web sites on the computer, and all of them say that there's going to be periods of showers for at least the next 5 days. Tomorrow, they are calling for rain and fairly strong winds.

I don't really need that on a traveling day.

I don't think anything much is planned for today. Mostly, Jim and Linda will be getting me ready to travel. Jim found a CG down by the little town of Yachats OR, that has sites right on the ocean. He called there the other day and made reservations, so we would get a good site.

I hope the weather cooperates a little.

Did you know that there are nine lighthouses standing along the Oregon coast, and that five are still being used, and the others are designated historic monuments?

HAPPY HALOWEEN!!!!!

The Cheese Factory

Garibaldi, OR.
51 deg. overcast, light winds
Forecast today = high temp. 65 deg, partly cloudy, SE winds @ 5 to 10 mph.

Tuesday, Jim and Linda took CLT and headed down to Tillamook, OR, and to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. From what I can gather, it's been in operation since the early 1900's, it's well known all over the West, and the cheese, ice cream, and other dairy products they produce are really good. They have a visitors center where you can buy the products, eat lunch at their Cafe, and take a tour of the factory. Of course Linda bought a bunch of cheese, yogurt, butter in their store, and an ice cream cone at their ice cream counter. Then they came back here to try to get it all in my little refrigerator. :-)

Jim's been riding his bike quite a bit since we've been here. There's lots of roads in this park for him to ride on.

Other than that, not much else happening around here. Linda's been doing laundry, Jim cooked some burgers on the grill last night, and I've just been sitting here watching RVs come and go. I think today, they might be going to the grocery store to pick up a few things, but I'm not sure.

People Watching and More Sherlock

Garibaldi, OR.
51 deg. overcast, NE winds @ 2 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 58 deg. mostly cloudy, S. winds @ 5 to 10 mph.

Not much happened around here yesterday, so I spent some time watching people. First of all, there was this couple across from me that were packing up to leave. I think they had been here quite a while because they had a lot of things setting around in their site. Anyway, the man was trying to store all of this stuff, and he wasn't having much success. He tried and tried to get it in the 5th wheel's storage compartments, but finally ended just throwing some of it in the back of his pickup truck. Then, when it was time to hook the 5th wheel trailer up to the pickup, some of the stuff was in the way, so he had to remove it, hook up the trailer, and then put it back in the truck again.

Another couple came into the park with their MH pulling a little jeep. They drove around and around and around the park, looking for the perfect site. They finally pulled into a site, sat there for a couple of minutes, went around again, pulled back into that same site, sat there for a couple of minutes, drove around again, and finally pulled into a site down at the other end of the row. Oh, and this couple had no regard to the jeep they were towing, or the tow bar. More than once, I saw them back up, causing the jeep's front wheels to turn sideways, sliding them on the pavement, and then pulling forward again without ever checking to see if the wheels had straightened out again.

I suppose that when the front tires on the jeep start to wear crooked, or the towbar breaks, they'll blame the Jeep or towbar manufacturers.

For dinner, Jim cooked a brat and a hot dog on the grill, and Linda made some scalloped potatoes, and sliced up a tomato. Then they sat down and watched, (You guessed it), some more Sherlock Holmes movies on TV. I sure hope they fine something else to watch tonight. I'm getting really tired of Holmes and Watson!

Did you know that according to the Guinness Book of World Records, Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed fictional character in film, with 75 actors playing him in 211 movies since 1900?

A Missed Turn, US 101, and A Beautiful Sunset

Garibaldi, OR. El. 22'
54 deg. clear, SE wind @ 3 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 63 deg. sunny, E. winds @ 5 to 10 mph.

We didn't leave Ft. Stevens S. P. until 11:30 yesterday. As we were heading towards US 101 from the park, the roads got kind of confusing, and we took a wrong turn. Jim was able to get me turned around in a parking lot though, and soon we were headed the right direction.

There's lots to see along US 101. Small coastal communities, beautiful scenery and great views of the ocean, like the one in the photo below.
There are many viewpoints where you can stop a look at the scenery. Some of them are too small for a MH like me, but we found plenty that were big enough.

Now, let me tell you about the actual road. It goes through a lot of small towns, it is hilly, twisty, and in some places quite narrow. In places the road has washed out from the winter rains, and been repaired. These repairs are sometimes rough. Other parts of the road will test the suspension on an RV because there are dips and humps in the road.

All of this might make you to say, "I sure don't want to go on a road like that". Well, folks, I'm here to tell you that it's worth it!! The scenery is great, and if you take it slow, you will not have any problems. I don't know of anyplace else in the US like this. If you like ocean views, you won't be disappointed.

We didn't travel very far yesterday. In fact, we had only traveled 56 miles by the time we pulled into the Barview Jetty County Campground here in Garibaldi at about 1:15.

This seems to be a very nice park. There are no sites with ocean views, (unless you want to dry camp out on the jetty), but the sites are fairly large and level with some trees, and the lady in the entrance booth was super nice.

For dinner Jim and Linda took CLT (Cute Little Truck), and went to a restaurant called the Pirate's Cove. (The lady in the booth had told Jim about it). They had a great view of the bay, and the food was excellent. Jim thought the prices were a little high though.

After dinner they drove out onto the Jetty, here at the park, and got there just in time for a beautiful sunset. Jim took quite a few photos, but I though this one was the best. (Be sure to click on it to see it full-sized).
After they got back here, Jim and Linda watched some more taped Sherlock Holmes episodes on the TV, (there are no TV signals out here), and then went to bed a little after 10:00.

It was a great day!!!

Did you know that on this date in 1938, DuPont announced that it would name it's new synthetic yarn, nylon?

Cool Temps, Old Movies, and Heading South

Warrenton, OR. El. 8'
50 deg. clear, NE winds @ 5 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 67 deg. sunny, E. winds @ 10 to 15 mph.

I'm getting tired of this cool/cold weather!! Yesterday, Jim had my electric heaters running all day. Oh yeah, their thermostats shut them off from time to time, but they ran quite a bit all day. I think one of the problems is that we have a lot of trees here. Even when the sun shines, it can't get through to warm things up much. Probably at this time of year, we need to be in a park with not so many trees.

Not much happened here yesterday. Linda did some sewing and worked on her family tree stuff. Jim did some work on the computer, but didn't do much else. He said he wasn't feeling very well.

Last night, Jim and Linda watched some old Sherlock Holmes movies that they had recorded from the TV years ago. I especially liked one of them. It was something about some submarine plans getting stolen.

Today, we are scheduled to leave here and start working our way down US 101 towards California. Jim has checked a lot of RV parks in the CG book, so I don't know where we will be staying, but it think the next one is either another State Park, or maybe a County Park, that he read about in the Internet.

Hopefully we'll have a sunnier site.

Did you know that since 1792 approximately 2000 ships have sunk in the area around the mouth of the Columbia River, thus earning it the name of "Graveyard of the Pacific"?

The Ocean, The River, and The Campground

Warrenton, OR. El. 8'
47 deg. overcast, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 59 deg. partly cloudy, NW winds @ 5 to 15 mph.

Yesterday afternoon, Jim and Linda took CLT and headed up to the place where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific Ocean. It's just a little North of Ft. Stevens S.P. so it didn't take them long to get there. From what CLT told me, there are different areas where you can see the river, the ocean, or the place where they come together.

The photo below is looking North towards the tip of the jetty. The water you see on the left is the ocean, and the water coming in from the right is the river. CLT says it's really impressive, but I'll have to take his word for it. There have been quite a few RVs come into the park for the weekend. There are 12 camping loops, and when we came in on Thursday, 5 of them were open. Now those 5 are full, and they have opened a couple more. I would imagine even more RVs will come in today.

One of the reasons there are a lot of campers coming into the park, is the weather. It's been really nice and sunny but cool. The highs have been in the upper 50's so the people have to wear jackets, but for this time of year, that's to be expected.

Did you know that the average precipitation in Warrenton is 75 inches per year?

A Drink, A Beautiful Drive, and A Nice Park

Warrenton, OR. El. 8'
41 deg. overcast, light SE winds.
Forecast today = high temp. 58 deg., partly sunny, W. winds @ 5 to 10 mph.

Ahhhh! No more itchy tires!!!

We left the Columbia River RV Park about 10:30 yesterday morning and drove over to the Jubitz Truck Stop and got me a nice drink of good old #2 diesel. I wasn't especially thirsty, but Jim though the prices may be better there than out along the coast.

After filling me up, we got onto I-5 and headed South for a few miles. Then we took I-405, to just across the Willamette River, where we turned NW on US 30. After that, it was just a matter of following 30 all the way to Astoria, where we turned onto US 101 for a few miles and followed it to Warrenton, and the Fort Stevens State Park.

Now, I want to tell you about this section of US 30. After leaving the Interstate, the first 10 miles or so runs through an industrial area, but after that, the traffic thins out and it becomes a very nice 4 lane road. Then, after another 10 miles or so, it narrows down to a 2 lane road, and runs right along side of the Columbia River. Folks, this is a very scenic route, and if you're ever out here in the NW and you want to get to the coast, from Portland, I highly recommend US 30.

OK, now back to our trip. By the time we arrived here at Fort Stevens S.P. it was 1:30, so it took us about 3 hours to get me fueled and travel 121 miles.

Fort Stevens is a nice park. All the roads and sites are paved, there's lots of trees, and so far, nice and quiet. I don't know what it will be like this weekend, but right now, there aren't many campers here, in fact, there's no one within about 50 yards of me. Kind of nice after the narrow sites in Portland.

Did you know that US 30 runs all he way from Atlantic City, NJ to Astoria OR, and is 3073 miles long?