Eugene, Oregon, and the North Oregon Coast

 Dressed for a cool, rainy day on the northern Oregon Coast 

In my last post, exactly two weeks ago, I had just checked into a campground at Horsfall, which is near North Bend, at the south end of Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.  I was surprised to find that there are a whole lot of nice little inexpensive Federal campgrounds along the 40+ mile expanse of dunes that runs from Coos Bay up to Florence.  I'd driven this area before, but had stuck to the more expensive State Parks.  Now, with my Access Pass, I can stay at the Dunes campgrounds for just $10 per night.  And not all of the campgrounds are overrun with OHVs. 

Unfortunately, the campground I picked, called Bluebill, had some standing water near it and an abundance of mosquitoes.  A friend who lives in the area brought me some fresh rosemary, which helped.  She also brought leftovers from a family birthday party!  Yay for friends bearing cake!  (Take note, Roxanne, that's c-a-k-e, not k-a-l-e.)  We chatted for several hours and visited the beach together.  

Releasing trout

Visiting with my friend, I realized how lonely I'd gotten while traveling along the south Oregon Coast.  Well, I knew what to do about that!  I could get from the Coos Bay area to Eugene in just a few hours.  I had a long, but very enjoyable day of driving, punctuated by some rest stops and lovely views.  The most fun stop was at Umpqua Lighthouse, where a ranger and a crew of volunteers were about to release 1000 trout into a little lake.  

My friend Barb Hogue and me in front of the beautiful azaleas in her front yard.  Fortunately, Barb and her husband Steve are avid photographers, and they took some nice shots!

I drove into Eugene not knowing where I would stay, but knowing it would all be okay.  I stayed a couple of nights with my law school friend Cheryl and her daughter Kyra, and then several nights with my Scrabble-fiend friend Barb and her husband Steve.  I also spent time with my friends Jean and Susan.  I was busy much of the time, going out for coffee, several meals, a concert, the Eugene Saturday Market, Camping World, estate sales, thrift shops, grocery stores, etc.  Then I would come home to my little RV in a friend's driveway and eat and sleep well.   

One of my all-time favorite Oregon hippie cafes, the Alpha-Bit in Mapleton, where I replenished with coffee and walnut pie for my journey into Eugene.  Alpha-Bit has been run by the Alpha Farm intentional community since the 1970s, when we called it a commune.  I mentioned to my son that I'd visited Alpha-Bit and did he remember this little Oregon hippie cafe?  He said "hippie" is a modifier for so many Oregon cafes; could I please narrow it down a bit?

Where are my photos from Eugene?  I was too busy enjoying the moment to capture it.  I felt very grateful for the friendly reception I got from everyone in Eugene.  Barb's husband Steve, whom I'd never met before, went out of his way to help me try to solve a leaky pipe.  I was fed extremely well wherever I went.  It was just an awesome visit.

Holy GMO!  I spent some lovely time at the Eugene Saturday Market and Farmers Market, but I only took a picture of my friend Susan's back as she examined the harpsichord from the trio sonata concert we attended.

I got all filled up by the time spent with friends and, after a week, was ready to move on.  I'd debated which way to head north from Eugene.  There were so many great choices--the Coast, or little historic towns along Hwy 99, or heading up to the Cascades to stay in National Forest campgrounds, or even taking I-5, but getting off the interstate somewhere cool such as Silver Falls State Park near Sublimity, Oregon.  

 

Chinook Winds in Lincoln City is a nice casino, but there was not going to be any bingo for like three days, so I had to move on.

Something told me I needed more beach time, so I went north on Hwy 99 as far as Corvallis, then headed on Hwy 20 to Newport.  It was great to be back at the Coast, and I continued north on Hwy 101 to Lincoln City, where I stayed one night in the parking lot at the big Chinook Winds Casino.  I was one of the last campers to be able to enjoy the blacktop boondocking at Chinook Winds--the tribe has built a new RV park and won't be allowing free overnight parking anymore, starting within a few days.  I had a nice $20 buffet dinner at the casino, so it was worth their while to let me camp for free.  

The next day, I continued north, enjoying wonderful views along the way.  At Pacific City, I veered off Hwy 101 to travel the Three Capes Scenic Loop, which somehow I had never driven before, despite numerous trips along the Oregon Coast.  It was awesome!  Bad road full of potholes, but so worth it.  There are a lot of enjoyable things to see along this side road, including the retired Cape Meares Lighthouse, some wonderful beaches, a State Park, a County Park, and more.  

I camped at Big Spruce RV Park in Netarts, a great little town.  Big Spruce participates in Passport America, a half-price camping club, so I paid only $15 per night for a site with water and electric hookups.  I walked just a block or two to the Schooner, a restaurant and bar overlooking the water, and had one of the best bowls of clam chowder I'd ever eaten.

Crab, melted butter, Henry Weinhard's Orange Cream Soda

I planned to stay just one night, but I woke up on Saturday morning to a beautiful day that just had to be spent on the beach, so I stayed a second night.  I spent that day wandering on foot, and ended up bringing home a freshly caught and boiled crab, which I enjoyed on the picnic table in my campsite.  

Lex's Cool Stuff, a very fun shop.  I got to talk to the owner and then it got really busy! 

I could have stayed at Netarts indefinitely.  But it seemed like time to keep moving north, so I drove into Tillamook yesterday to visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory and then continue up Hwy 101.  The Cheese Factory was, as always, very fun.  I did not bother to go up to the catwalk to watch the cheese-making process, which I've seen before.  I went straight for the three things I really wanted--a nice big ice cream cone for lunch, the cheese sampling buffet, and a package of my favorite Tillamook cheese, the smoked aged sharp white cheddar.  Oh, yeah, baby.  

This is gonna last for like three sandwiches...

It is so good for my heart and soul to see the happy cows pasturing in Oregon.  When I'm down in the Southwest, I can barely stand the thought of drinking milk from those poor dairy cows that spend their entire life living in a yucky feedlot.  Here, I am indulging in every Tillamook product I see--milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt, you name it.  I'm also buying local produce whenever and wherever I can.  Yesterday I snacked on fresh cherries that I picked up in Garibaldi as I headed north of Tillamook.  

Another truck picture...here, they are full of Tillamook Milk

I spent last night at another fish camp, Kelly's Brighton Marina, north of Rockaway Beach.  Kelly and his crew are fun people who rent out boats and gear for crabbing and clamming.  They also boil up clams and crabs at an outside cook shack, and there's a little store where you can buy marshmallows and other necessities.  It was a little pricey for a no-hook-up site ($25), but fun.  I saw Great Blue Herons fly right by my window, and there were seals inside the jetty.  And I had a terrific grilled cheese sandwich for supper.

Part of the view from my campsite at Kelly's Brighton Marina last night;

so relaxing

Today I got up and continued north to Warrenton, and I'm spending the night at Fort Stevens State Park.  This is in the extreme northwest corner of the state of Oregon, where a triangle of land extends into the mouth of the Columbia River.  It's familiar territory; my son Sly and I camped all along the northernmost part of the Oregon Coast back in the years when we homeschooled.  We didn't just read about the Lewis & Clark Trail, we traveled parts of it.  This time I'm not stopping for all of the historical sites, but I highly recommend them to anyone traveling this way.  I was really impressed by how challenging it must have been for the Corps of Discovery to spend a wet, cold and hungry winter at Fort Clatsop.  

I'm planning to spend one night here at Fort Stevens, and then I'll go into Astoria tomorrow and get a few things done so I'll be ready for the next leg of my journey, venturing into Washington State.  Actually, the first part of Washington will be easy, because I'm going to hang out on the Long Beach Peninsula, a very vacationy destination, for a day or two.  After that, I'll head up to the Olympic National Park, where towns are smaller and more spread out, so services may be less available.  So I'm getting an oil change, new wiper blades and air in the tires in Astoria tomorrow.  

The past few days, I've made some exciting plans with Steve.  He'll be flying to Seattle to spend two weeks with me during the time I'll be there.  He's feeling a lot better than when we attempted to travel together a couple of months back.

Oregon has been everything I could have hoped for.  I had thought to skip Oregon on my way back home in a month or six weeks, but I definitely need to come back as soon as possible.  I need to go to Portland and nearby Vancouver, Washington, to see friends and family.  I want to go to Silver Falls State Park and Breitenbush Hot Springs, both of which require planning and reservations, and I really want to go to Crater Lake when it's more like summer than winter.  So, another trip to Eugene on the way home...hopefully with more pictures!    

Sweet Rolls, Swap Meets, and the Blues--Ajo AZ to Needles CA

Roadsign seen near the Carefree Highway 

A couple of days after Steve went home to Why, I headed back out on my trip to Seattle, this time solo.  With Steve's help, I had reorganized the rig a little bit and offloaded things I wasn't likely to use when traveling by myself, such as the small propane barbecue.

Nope, I'm more of a "I think I'll find a bakery and a thrift shop" kind of gal.  And, in this, I've had a most satisfying week.  

Some petroglyphs at Painted Rock near Gila Bend, AZ

For the first few days I was back to traveling solo, I went very slowly and stayed on remote BLM lands, kind of rerouting my itinerary.  I spent a couple of nights on Darby Well Road outside of Ajo, then I headed up to Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, which is west of Gila Bend, AZ, off of I-8.  There is an 11-mile paved road that goes up to Painted Rock.  The campground is just desert land with some picnic tables and fire circles, but it's also inexpensive ($4 I believe with my Access pass) and quiet, and the rocks are interesting.  I stayed one night only, because it was hot during the daytime, and I wanted to escape the heat by continuing north.

 Shorebirds just a few feet off my stern at Lake Pleasant Regional Park north of Phoenix

One thing I am really trying to do on this trip is rely on my intuition.  There are tons of websites that provide information about where to camp, but sometimes I like to just figure it out by myself.  That's what I did for my next stop.  I was looking at my road atlas and saw that there was a nice big lake north of Phoenix called Lake Pleasant, but there were no markings on the map about parks.  But I had a hunch there must be something nice there, and when I looked it up online, there was a Maricopa County park there with campgrounds ($20 to $30 per night) and dry camping right on the beach ($12 per night).  Yay!  I spent a night there parked about 20 feet from the water, enjoying the cool breezes from the lake.  The following morning, though, the breezes had become a really big gusty wind, and I had to wait for that to die down before I could safely pull out of there.

A fabulous sweet roll at Bedoian's in Wickenburg, made by the barista's brother; he makes a fresh batch every morning

I took the Carefree Highway (AZ State Highway 74), named for a small town and immortalized by Gordon Lightfoot, from Lake Pleasant to Wickenburg where I found a wonderful little cafe, Bedoian's Bakery & Bistro, that had great coffee and probably the best cinnamon roll I've eaten in my lifetime.  And that's high praise from a Minnesota girl who grew up with the good stuff.  I spent a few hours in Wickenburg, visiting the art museum which was showing a yearly Cowgirl Up! exhibit that I found inspiring and delightful.  I also visited the Soroptimists Thrift Store a block or so away.  

I haven't listed anything on eBay for quite some time, but I am collecting what we in the antique business call "smalls" to mail to my friend January to sell in her consignment antique store in Truth or Consequences, NM.  Along the road, I have completely filled up a Flat Rate Priority Mail Medium Box which will ship for $12.65, and I have stuff to start the next box or two.  

 My campsite at White Spar Campground

From Wickenburg, I drove north on Highway 89 to the White Spar Campground in the Prescott National Forest, about three miles south of the town of Prescott.  It's a nice primitive (no hookups) campground, very cool at night, and I rested there for a couple of days.  

 A very nice almond croissant from Pangaea in Prescott

The morning I left, I stopped in historic downtown Prescott and found another fabulous stop for coffee and pastry, Pangaea Bakery & Cafe, where I had a remarkable almond croissant and a nice dark fair trade organic house roast.  If you're one of my early blog readers, you may remember that I have a passion for almond croissants and have reviewed them whenever I come across them in my travels.  Pangaea's was a little dry on the outside, perhaps from reheating, but Lord Almighty they know how to put the good stuff inside.  Many bakeries scrimp on the almond paste, but Pangaea's bakers add so much paste that the inside of the croissant has an exquisite custard-like layer.  

Bob Wells, leader of the pack

On leaving the bakery, I went to the Salvation Army for a few trinkets, then took quite a long drive to my next campsite.  I continued up Highway 89 to catch I-40 at Ash Fork, with stops at several thrift shops in Chino Valley.  And an awesome coincidence in Chino of stopping at a Circle K, only to find Bob Wells there, getting some water!  I've known Bob online for years, but this was my first opportunity to meet him in person.  Bob runs a helpful website called CheapRVLiving, and he gathers up people each year for the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, where there is community and an exchange of useful information for living on the road.  He was also featured in a film about mobile living, along with my friend Christine Carrington and other full-timers.   

Just west of Ash Fork, I picked up an old portion of Route 66 that wasn't paved over to become an Interstate.  It goes through Seligman up to Grand Canyon Caverns, where I spent the night and took a tour the next morning. 

A picture taken of me by our tour guide at the bottom of the Grand Canyon Caverns

Grand Canyon Caverns is really kitschy and fun.  It was a huge contrast to Kartchner Caverns, which I've toured a couple of times.  Kartchner is a live cavern, where formations are still growing and the environment is fragile.  Kartchner is owned by the State of Arizona and there are lots of rules to protect it.  Grand Canyon Caverns, on the other hand, is a very dry cavern that has been in private ownership and used for tourism ever since it was discovered and found to not have any gold, silver or other valuable resources.  So the property includes a funky old motel and a barely-tended campground, and you're pretty much over a barrel--you have to spend at least $25 a night to camp there ($35 if you want hookups), plus the 20 bucks for the tour.  But it's fun.

Having blown my budget big-time at the Caverns, I saw no reason to slow down the next day.  I drove the rest of the Old Route 66 loop to Kingman.  Just as I was pulling into town, there was a big swap meet, where I stopped for more resale fodder and also managed to get a sunburn.  It is hot on the West Coast of Arizona!  Then I continued west and crossed the Colorado River into Laughlin, Nevada, where I spent the night at Harrah's Convenience Store, a Shell station across the street from the casino.  It's $7 to dry camp, and the casino will send a van over to pick you up when you want to go eat or gamble.  

While driving into Laughlin, I saw posters about Buddy Guy playing that night at the Edgewater, another casino about 1.5 miles down the strip from Harrah's.  I bought a ticket to the concert and took a cab up to the Edgewater because it was too hot to walk.  I enjoyed the concert immensely.  Buddy Guy does a lot of talking between and during songs.  Mid-song, he'll stop to pontificate on the blues or where music is going today or why people should love and respect one another.  He's a very hip 78-year-old who has recently added more foul language into his act, because, as he says, "After hip hop, what's stopping me?"  I loved his music and his patter.  I felt so energized afterwards that I walked the 1.5 miles back to my RV in the cooler evening. 

 Gourmet treats at the Harrah's Casino Sunday brunch buffet--lox, fresh asparagus, artichoke hearts, blintzes, a mini-waffle with fruit and whipped cream

Upon awakening in Laughlin the next morning, I decided a casino buffet Sunday brunch was in order, so I got the shuttle over to Harrah's and dove in.  The choices were so numerous that I could try only a small percentage of what was offered.  I stuck to things I don't usually eat in my RV, such as blintzes, lox, eggs Benedict, and creme brulee.  Then I headed back across the river to Bullhead City, Arizona, and stocked up at the grocery store for a few days of crossing the Mojave.

I spent last night at an RV park in Needles, California, called Fender's River Road Resort.  There are some motel rooms here and a few RV sites, some right along the Colorado River.  With my Passport America membership, this campground was $14.  This is the first time I've had hookups for over a week, and my Verizon connection has been good here for Internet, too.  So I spent last night and this morning catching up on stuff--a shower, laundry, getting out my computer to do some route planning and write this blog, and I even watched a little TV online last night, too.  

Today I am heading out to the Mojave National Preserve which has a campground at a higher elevation and thus cooler temps.  It's going to be 97 here in Needles this afternoon, but the highs are in the 70s up at the Preserve.  I'll probably stay there a night or two before taking on the next leg of crossing the hot desert. 

I'm keeping in touch with Steve every day and the current situation seems to be that his lab tests from his yearly physical indicated maybe more tests should be run, and Steve is deciding which of these to have.  He'll be seeing his regular physician again soon for some medication to address the gout, and to get advice on how far to pursue other tests, imaging, etc.  Then he wants to head back over to Truth or Consequences, NM, soon where he can stay in our big Class A motorhome with air conditioning.       

      

Older and Wiser, and Having More Fun All the Time

Grand Canyon, 16 x 20 inches, acrylic on canvas, SOLD

A few days ago, I celebrated my 58th birthday here in Pinetop, Arizona.  We are not towing a vehicle this summer, so we decided to go out to eat lunch someplace that was on the Lakeside-Pinetop bus route.  

We'd noticed an Asian buffet, but we really couldn't tell what it was like from the outside.  So we took a chance, and I'm so glad we did!  Sakura Buffet turned out to be very, very good.  Everything was fresh and delicious, including the sushi, which was much better than typical buffet sushi.  The restaurant was much larger than I would have guessed from the outside, and it was clean and tastefully decorated.  It was also reasonably priced, so we won't be waiting until another birthday or other special celebration to return.  If you get to the Show Low area, I'd say it's worth the drive down to Lakeside to eat at Sakura.

We have about another week-and-a-half here at Blue Ridge Motel & Cabins.  We can't extend our stay because they're fully booked for the rest of the summer, but we're also ready to move on, anyway.  I'm craving a little travel, new scenery, and a larger campsite.  So I've looked into a couple of RV parks that are part of the Passport America program, and we'll probably head to Clay Springs (about 30 miles away) next for about a week, and then on to Overgaard (another 15 miles) for another week.  We are definitely on the s-l-o-o-o-w tour of the White Mountains this summer, and I'm glad there are so many places to stay up here where it's cool (highs of about 90 degrees, while lowland parts of Arizona are hitting 115+ degrees this weekend!).    

For those who aren't members, I'd definitely recommend Passport America.  It is a 50% off campground membership program that costs about $50 per year.  So, if you use it for just a few nights, it's been worth the yearly fee.  Every campground has its own rules about PA rates.  They usually limit the number of nights you can get half-off, and they also often limit what time of the year or what days of the week as well.  But, if you take the time to look at the fine print and plan accordingly, you can get some pretty good deals.  

Fortunately, after a career as a law librarian, I'm a planner and researcher.  I spent a couple of hours online yesterday figuring out why these two Passport America parks would work best for me.  Since I sell on eBay and we don't have a car with us, staying within bicycling distance of a Post Office is important.  Also, because I use Verizon as my Internet access, I like to know how good the signal is going to be.  Post Office locations can be found pretty readily on the U.S. Postal Service website under the "Manage Your Mail" tab.  And yesterday I found out how to locate cell phone towers, too.  I'm glad I figured this stuff out, because it eliminated several campgrounds I'd been considering going to next.  

I'm working on a couple of things as we finish our stay here in Pinetop.  First, I'm lowering some of my eBay prices.  A few months ago, I bought 1000 vintage scarves from a person who used to be known as "THE Scarf Lady" on eBay.  She used to list her scarves at very high prices and she had a lot of success.  However, it's been a few years since she did much eBay selling, and people just aren't buying stuff like they used to.  After buying her inventory, I initially tried pushing my prices up to the maximum of what I might expect to receive, but the result has been fewer sales.  So I'm going back to the kinds of prices I used to charge, and hopefully that means I'll get a lot more sales.  This has meant spending hours reworking existing eBay listings, but I think it's going to be worthwhile. 

Second, I'm working on my series of road sign fantasy paintings, which I'll be sending to Grapes Gallery in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, in time for July's Second Saturday Art Hop.  I'm having a lot of fun making these paintings, and so far the response to them has been very positive.  I've already sold two of the paintings before even getting them to the gallery, just from sharing them on my FaceBook page. 

Deer Crossing, 16 x 20 inches, acrylic on canvas

The older I get, the more comfortable I am with just creating artwork that springs from my mind, without having to edit myself or worry about how the work will be received.  The more fun I have making the work, the more my joy of life is reflected in my paintings, and the more people like them.  I currently have enough ideas to make art for years to come, and I'm just going to keep doing it.  

Today I'm looking forward to the possible arrival of my friend Roxanne, who will be passing through this area on her way to visit family.  Can't wait to see her!