No Internet

 We will not have Internet for the next few days so no blog posts. Sorry about that.

Wednesday 9-27-23 Crescent City & Elk Valley Casino

 

Awesome Day

We had an awesome day.

A front came through about 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. It brought a steady rain. It stay around until 7:00. Everything was wet. We weren't in any hurry because we were only going about 10 miles down the road.

We started the day out by having cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then we relaxed in the Minnie until 8:30. We put things away and secured. Larry took the Minnie off it's blocks. They were filthy so Larry wiped them off a little and put them away. I put the step in and we were ready to hit the road.

Next we went to Walmart to pick up a few things. Once again they didn't have any plastic bags, you either had to carry your items out or use recyclable bags. We used our recyclable bags. 

After putting things away. We decided to do some site seeing along the coast in Crescent City. This adventure started with a little fog. Larry read they had a lighthouse. We saw it from a distance on a rock. I took a picture of it but it didn't come out to well. We continued up the coast, we thought maybe the fog would lift but it didn't. We turned around and headed in the opposite direction. The fog was starting to lift. We drove to a very nice area called Battery Point Vista Area. This area had a closer look of the Battery Point Lighthouse, a pier, a dog park and a walkway to look at the lighthouse and ocean. They had tours of the lighthouse but it wasn't until 4:00 because they had to wait for low tide so you can get to it. If the tide was in the water went over the walkway to it. The walkway to look at the lighthouse had a sign that said "Beyond this point it is dangerous because the waves can wash you away." We didn't walk too far on the walkway but I did take pictures of the lighthouse and ocean. We didn't walk on the pier because the views from there were still foggy. We went back to the Minnie and drove a couple of blocks to where the Harbor Marina is. We parked the Minnie in the shade and walked around. It must be off season for crab fishing because the boats were in the marina and the pots were in the parking area. We saw a gentleman working on his boat and we saw some harbor seals. We first heard the seals making a lot of noise so we walked around to find them. There was one by itself close by but the noisy ones were a little farther down the dock area. It looked like they were in the harbor and on the rocks. They had a mermaid craved in a tree stump looking over the harbor. After walking around a bit we sat in the Minnie and had lunch.

Pacific Ocean

Battery Point Lighthouse

 

Pots for the crab

 

A harbor seal

 

Mermaid looking over the harbor

We hung around the harbor until about 12:30 and then we headed towards our destination for the night, Elk Valley Casino. The casino is only three miles from the harbor. First we stopped at the Chevron station to fill the Minnie up with gas. This is the most expensive gas so far on the trip. It was $6.59 a gallon, the Minnie took 23.665 gallons so it cost $156.17.

Price per gallon per grade

 

What we paid

After filling the Minnie we were off to Elk Valley Casino. Elk Valley Casino use to be down the road but they moved to this location a year ago. They have six RV spaces where you can stay for the night for free if you join their player club. No problem I was going to gamble anyways. It's a small casino and has a non-smoking area. The security guards, desk people and other staff are very friendly and helpful. I asked the lady who signed me up if the new location was better. She said it was because the other location was hard to find. In order to stay in the parking lot for the night you have to check in with security. They have to fill out a form and give you a permit to hang from your rear view mirror. When they do their security check at night they know you checked in with them.

Elk Valley Casino

After checking in Larry left me at the casino to gamble a bit. He went back to the Minnie and read. I was there for a couple of hours and lost $20.00 so I went to the Minnie. Larry stopped reading and looked out the front window and saw a heard of elk in the field. I got the camera and walked a little closer and took pictures. It was a nice size harem. After awhile they moved on. 

 

 

Elk

 

A young bull

When it was time for dinner I made some pull apart pork from Aldi. After dinner we read a bit. Then I went back to the casino around 6:30 and was there for a couple hours. I won the money i lost earlier and more. I came back with $50.00 so I was ahead by $10.00. I had a super time. 

 

 

Tuesday 9/26/23 Road Delay, New State & Florence Keller Park

 

New State

The rain stopped around 6:00 am but we weren't in any hurry to move on. We hung around Waterloo Park until 8:15. I crawled out of bed at 7:00 and since we had power I made mini waffles. For the next five days or more we'll be without power. It always nice to have power because you can charge everything up, plugin an electric heater or two and use the microwave if you want to.

After breakfast I started putting things away. Larry unplugged the Minnie from the power. We made sure everything was securely in place. We're ready to go. I put in the step and got in the passenger seat. Now I'm definitely ready to go.

Today Larry drove 260 miles. We started in Oregon and ended up in California. Three days ago we drove into Oregon and saw blueberry fields, corn fields, pumpkin patches, orchards of apple and other crops. We saw horses, cattle and sheep. Today we saw the same except we saw more sheep. Larry drove mainly interstates and a couple of two lane highways. The drive took us through a couple of mountain passes with curvy roads. We stopped a few times. We stopped at a rest area to stretch our legs and use the bathroom. We stopped about lunch time and went to Taco Time for lunch. We shared a tostada wrap, it was big enough for both of us. We notice since we got older we don't eat as much. Then we were back on the road.

We also stopped once to get fuel. In Washington we were paying around $5 a gallon, in Oregon it was a bit better, we paid about $4.40. We will see what California brings.

We were about 40 miles from our destination for the night when we had to stop at a gate. A gentleman told us the road was closed until 4:00. Larry asked if we could still go on. He said yes but there won't be a pilot car to take us through the mountain pass until 4:00. He was correct. We got where the road was closed at 1:40 so we had to wait until 4:00. There was a flashing sign, that said Mon. thru Fri. a pilot truck would take cars through at 7:40, 11:40 and 4:00 and on weekends and night every half hour. We made ourselves comfortable and read. We were lucky we had the Minnie, other people had to sit in their cars. There were a lot of people who did what we did and waited. While they waited they walked around. It was a beautiful forest. When 4:00 came around the pilot truck did take us through the forest. We started our adventure through the forest by going through a tunnel. We followed the pilot car for over a half hour. We also found out why the highway was closed. It was because they had a forest fire and they were cleaning up after it. They had to cut down a lot of trees and fix the guardrails that were crushed by fallen trees. It was a sad sight to see. Some places it was a single lane highway.

Waiting for the pilot truck

 

Weekend time for the pilot truck

 

Weekday times for the pilot truck

 Exiting the tunnel

We arrived at Florence Keller Regional Park at 5:30. This is late for us. We drove around and found a site. There were many openings. It was weird. We drove around and we had to exit and come back in the park to get a site. Our site was right at the bathroom and pay station. The park is gorgeous with tall redwood trees. It's also scary at the same time because the trees are so thick that it's dark all the time. The park has three loops with no hook-ups, one running water bathroom, playground and they have short hiking trails through the park. We parked the Minnie and then paid $20 for the night. 

Camping at Florence Keller Park

 

 Playground at the park

Afterwards we had dinner. After dinner I walked around for a half hour for get a little bit of steps. I ended up doing 6,000 steps, which put me in 8th place in my group. I'm starting the week very slow I only have 12,000 steps in two days. But that's ok. Congratulations, Louise you're ahead of me in steps. While walking I stopped and visited with a gentleman from Alaska.

Monday 9-25-23 It's My 67th Birthday

 

It's my birthday. 

I woke up about 7:00, I thought it was later. I crawled out of bed and for breakfast we had some more of my birthday bread. It was still raining. The rain was suppose to stay around all day. We hung around the house and read.

About noon the rain stopped so Larry and I went for walk. We paid for another night. Then we walked to the day area and Waterloo falls. The day area was very nice. It had picnic tables on both sides of the road. One side had the falls, not really falls, more like rapids. We walked down a hill to see them. They were very nice and the river was flowing fast because of the rain we are having. On the other side the park had a restroom and playground. The city hall was a small shed but cute. By the city hall there were three fruit trees. One was pear and the other two were apples, each tree was a different variety. There were lots of pears on the ground but it took a bit to find one on the tree, using our umbrella Larry was able to get it to fall. There were a lot of apples on the tree but most of them were too high to reach. Larry used the umbrella to pick a few. On the way back we walked to where the trail sign was and decided to hike the trail. The trail went through the trees and wasn't too muddy. Part of the trail was part of the disc golf course. The trail started by the day area and went to the B Loop of the campground. It was a nice trail and very easy to hike. It was flat. By the time we got back to the Minnie we walked around 2 miles.

Welcome sign

 

Waterloo Falls

 

Fresh apples and a pear

 

Apple tree

 

South Santiam River

Waterloo park campground is very nice and well kept up. The road through the campground is a paved one way road. It has a lot of trees. There weren't a lot of campers so it was very quiet. 

The rain came back at 3:00. It rained on and off the rest of the day. That's ok we have plenty of books to read on our Kindles. I finished reading Don't Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino. It took place in 1960, a young woman finds her way through her great-aunt. It was a cute romantic novel. Then I asked Larry to choose another book. He choose Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather. It takes place in the 1800's. Larry finished a book and started another one. I always ask Larry to choose a book for me to read, since he reviews and rates everything he reads I always get a good book. It was a great day for relaxing with a good book.

Relaxing with a good book

I ended up doing 6,000 steps, which put me in 5th place in my group. I think this is pretty good considering it rained. 

I had a great birthday.

    

 

       

Sunday 9-24-23 Visiting Ashley & Chase

 

Larry, me, Ashley and Chase

We had another rainy day. 

We started the day by getting the Minnie ready to leave Anderson Park. Once everything was securely in place we left. It was about 8:15 am. Today we were making a special stop, we were going to visit my niece Ashley and her husband Chase. They lived 35 miles from where we were, it was down a curvy road and took about 45 minutes to get there.

We haven't seen Ashley in many years and we had never met Chase or her dogs and cat. Ashley and Larry had communicated back and forth via e-mail on the time to meet. We arrived at their home about 9:15. Their dogs greeted us at the door with a bark. Ashley and Chase made us waffles and bacon for brunch. My birthday is tomorrow so Ashley said this could be my birthday brunch. They have a very nice home right off a golf course. It's a townhouse and you're very close to your neighbors. They have a deep garage. Part of it is Chase studio for his work. He works for X-Ray FM, which is a radio station.  Their dogs are very cute and the cat is very laid back. Ashley said she was about 10 years old but she looks more like a kitten. Ashley gave me a loaf of sour dough bread that was made by a friend of hers and she gave me a bunch of flowers along with a card for my birthday. When we had our waffles she put a few candles on it and Chase lit them. I blew them out. We visited with them until about 1:00. Larry wanted to get through Portland before it got too busy. We had a super visit. Thank you Ashley and Chase for the bread and flowers. Ashley thank your friend for the delicious bread.

Homemade sour dough bread

 

Birthday flowers

 

 

 

Birthday brunch

 

 

Blowing out my candles

 

Larry, me and Ashley

After saying our good-byes we were back on the road. We had 86 miles to go to get to our home for the night. It rained all the way through Portland to Waterloo. In Portland the traffic was heavy and slowed down in areas but it could have been worse. We stopped at a county park before Waterloo, they had an available site but the host wasn't there so we moved down the road a few miles to Waterloo. There was plenty of sites available and the host was there. He told Larry he was going to town and would be back in an hour if we needed anything. Larry made the right decision to come here because it was a bigger park and no one was here. 

Larry found a site right next to the bathroom. They have showers available. You can walk to see Waterloo Falls but it was raining so we didn't go see them. Maybe tomorrow. The sites have power and water. We parked the Minnie and paid for a night. They only take cash. Larry looked at the forecast for tomorrow and thinks we will probably be here another night. 

While staying dry in the Minnie Larry researched where to go next. He had planned to stay around Oregon for a couple of weeks but in some areas the rain is suppose to stay around awhile and in areas where there are lower chances of rain the air quality is poor due to forest fires. Even with all the rain we can smell smoke. Larry decided we would go to California. He went online and found one available site this weekend in the Redwood Forest National Park and State Park. We have never been there so this is exciting. We have a reservation for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

I only did 2,000 steps so I ended up coming in 4th place in my group for the week with 87,000 steps. I am now in the 90,000 step challenge. 

We spent the rest of the day reading.      

 

Saturday 9-23-23 Rainy Day & New State

 Rainy Nasty Day

We were without internet for a couple of days so you may have missed a couple of my posts. You can go back and read them now.

We had two great days at Hoh Rainforest Campground. It was time to move on because it was suppose to rain for a week or more.  

We had thought we would be in Washington for another week or two but a rain system moved in that is suppose to hang around for at least a week so we are moving on to Oregon.

I woke up when Larry did 5:50 am. We wanted to get an early start before the rain came in. We got the Minnie ready to leave. We put things away and made sure everything was secure. We had a quick breakfast. We were ready to go by 6:15. It was still dark and the rain started.

Larry drove 245 miles to Anderson County Park in Oregon. The first 12 miles or so was down a curvy road through Olympic National Park, then another 8 miles of the curvy road to the highway. The rain wasn't hard but it was very steady. Larry drove slower than the speed limit because the roads were wet and it was still dark. He kept an eye out for deer and elk. The construction workers were showing up to go to work and some of them were already working. We had stop at a couple of construction areas that were controlled by unmanned lights. There was another section where they had flag people. I felt sorry for the workers because it was cold and rainy. Once off the curvy forest road we drove on a two lane highway through small towns. We drove by the coast but you couldn't see much. We stopped a couple of times to use the restroom. We were about 30 miles away from the county park where we were planning to stay when we stopped to fill the Minnie with gas at a Safeway. After getting gas we had lunch in the parking lot.

After lunch we continued on. The last 30 miles were down a curvy two lane road. Before getting the the curvy road we crossed the Columbia River via a huge bridge. We entered Oregon right before we exited the bridge. I was surprised with all the industrial factories on the river. I know people have to make a living and we need the products such as logs for lumber and paper. Seeing all factories wasn't too pretty. We stopped at Big Eddy county park. It had a lot of sites available but very little internet/cell signal. It was also noisy from traffic going by. Larry was able to get enough service to make a reservation for another county park in town 8 miles away. The park was Anderson Park.

Bridge across the Columbia River

 

Welcome to Oregon

We arrived at the park at 2:30. The sites are very close to each other and they are full-hookups. Due to the closeness of sites on normal weekends it is probably a bit noisy and busy but with the rain it was very quiet. It is also away from any major road so there was no road noise. Larry plugged us in and filled the water tank. The internet and cell service is fast. We setup the Minnie for the night. We went over to the restrooms and took showers. The showers were $1.00 for 6 minutes, $1.25 for 7 minutes and $1.50 for 8 minutes. The shower was very hot. After our showers we relaxed with a book. 

Nehalem River

 

Anderson Park pay station

They had a nice trail for you to walk or ride your bike. Part of it was paved and the other part was dirt. People were using it, even when it was raining. After dinner we walked it to the river, which wasn't too far past the restrooms. It was raining so that's as far was we went. We walked on the bridge to check the river out. The park was very nice. 

         

Friday 9-22-23 Hoh River Trail Hike & Camping

 

Sunny day

  We did not have internet access for a couple of days so you might have missed yesterdays post. I posted it last night.

 Friday 9/22 

I crawled out of bed at 7:00. It was a little cold in the Minnie. Larry had been up for an hour and had the Wave3 heater on. I turned on the oven to heat it up to bake cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

After breakfast we went on a 6.75 mile hike on the Hoh River Trail. The Hoh River trail is 17.5 miles one way. We hiked it to Tom Creek, which was 2.9 miles. The trail was very nice and challenging. Most of the trail was flat but we did have to climb up a couple of steep hills. The trail was hard packed with rocks and huge tree roots. We crossed over a creek. The trail took you through the rainforest with giant pine trees and a lot of ferns and other beautiful green growth. The Hoh River ran by the trail and at times you could see it. We saw a couple of waterfalls, Mineral Creek Falls were wonderful, the creek it fed into went into the Hoh river. We crossed mineral creek via a bridge. About 1/4 mile further along was Tom Creek Falls, it was smaller and we had to look through the trees to see it.

On our way to the falls we saw four backpackers hiking out. On the way back we saw a lot more hikers and backpackers. When we got to the trail at our campground we saw three deer (two does and a fawn). The hike was very beautiful and peaceful.

One of the giant trees

Hoh River from the trail

 

Mineral Creek Falls

Mineral Creek

On average the Hoh Rainforest gets 12 feet of rain per year (our average at home is 3 feet).  On the way back to our campsite we stopped by the visitor center to take a picture of a display on how much rain the Hoh Rainforest normally gets each month. One of the gauges shows you where they are this year. It looks like they are about 16“ below normal. The gauge is at the amount they get by May. This is very interesting I’m glad we didn’t visit in October because they normally get 13“ of rain.

Rain gauge of the Rainforest

When we got back to the Minnie our neighbors from Germany were at our picnic table. The grandmother and daughter were making headbands and jewelry. The father and mother had to go to town because the father had a sore throat. Grandma was entertaining the daughter. We visited with them a little bit. They were at our table because it was in the sun and their table was in the shade and it was cold.

We rested a bit and then had lunch. After lunch we setup the solar panels to charge up the lead acid battery. We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the Minnie and reading a book. We both finished our books. I finished, What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriart, it was very good and cute. It was about a lady, who fell off her spinning bike and lost her memory of the last 10 years of her life.

I didn’t have to do any walking around the campground because I had done 18,500 steps. This kept me in 1st place in my group. We had a super day. 

Relaxing with a good book

 

 

 

Thursday 9-21-23 Hoh Rainforest Campground Olympic National Park

 

Welcome to Olympic National Park

No cell/internet the last couple of days so I will have to catch things up

Thursday 9-21

I woke up early, at 6:40 am. I got dressed and made pancakes for breakfast. We were only going 45 miles but it was going to take an hour and half. We got the Minnie ready to go to Hoh Rainforest Campground in Olympic National Park. We were on the road by 8:00.

The road was a two lane curvy road. It went through the forest. As we drove we saw a beautiful river running along side of the road. After turning off the highway you have to travel about 20 miles to geet to the campground. Part way up there was a flashing sign that said we may be delayed up to an hour because of construction between mile 3 to 7. We were delayed at mile 3 for about five minutes or so. They were doing major roadwork. At one part we had a single lane road because they were working on a bridge. They were using flag people during the day and at night they used a traffic light. The ride was slow but very nice.

We arrived at Hoh Rainforest Campground around 9:30. It was the first day of first come first serve instead of reservations. A ranger was going around and taking down the reserved signs. There were plenty of sites to choose from. We looked at a couple of sites. The first one was too close to the road and no internet at all. Larry walked around a couple other nearby sites same problem. Also the sites were in the trees. We found a pull through that had sun and it was level. We had a little cell signal if we were outside. 

After setting up the Minnie for a couple of nights we walked to the visitor center. The power was out but they had a sign saying they could still help us. We walked around the grounds and found the trailhead for the hiking trails. Then we went back to the Minnie. When we got back we had soup for lunch.

After lunch we relaxed with a book. About 2:30 we walked over to the visitor center and did some hiking. We hiked the Spruce Nature Trail (1.2 miles loop) and Hall of Mosses Trail (.8 mile loop). There were a lot of people hiking the trails. The trails were very beautiful through the rainforest. As we hiked there were signs about the trees. One sign was about a tree, that had fallen and other trees grew from it. This was called All In A Row. There was a beautiful creek that ran through the area. We crossed via a bridge. The trees were very tall and the root system was huge. They get up to 2500 people walking these trail per day. We had a great hike.

Root of a fallen tree

All in a row

Hoh Visitor Center

On our way back to the Minnie Larry pointed out there was an elk. This was the first one we have seen on our trip. She was a beautiful cow. Larry asked our neighbors across from us if they saw it. The ladies were excited and ran to see it. Then we walked by the river and saw a young bull munching on a tree. After dinner we went back outside to see if any more were around. Our neighbors said they saw a herd of six by the river. The family was from Germany (father, mother, daughter and grandmother). We visited with them for a long while we watched the herd of three cows, two calves and a young buck. The herd walked right through our campsite. We watched them for a long time. This was great entertainment.

A young buck coming to visit

 

The German family enjoying watching the elk visit

 

The first cow we saw

After the herd moved on Larry and I walked around for about 40 minutes. I ended up doing 19,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.