Smokejumpers

Barry had said we were gonna love the Costco gas. He was so right. brand new, not a stain on the concrete and no lines. Lyn drove the car the 4 miles from the campground, and after she filled it pulled around behind the stealth glamper, to hook up, while I was still filling up! Three lanes open, so no worries. Not like Fresno where I have driven by several times, when too crowded to wait on the street!

He also said highway 20 across the Cascades would be the route to take and was right. Mostly loping along at 45 mph under a treed canopy or next to a river with traffic not a problem. We got to our next site in Marblemount. Another less refined campground where we would have been happier last year (when the trees were shorter).

We setup and took off in the car to explore (go to the rangers office and ask about the fires!). The haze (no fake journalism here: it was smoke mostly from the 564 fires in BC!)

We had already rerouted from Redding, and now Wenatchee, and had heard 20 was closed ahead at Kettle Falls which would force us to Canada (564 fires) or south (more heat and still smoke).

The stealth glamper is pretty airtight. If you park under a tree by a river with a clean windshield, and have both ACs cycling you don't even know there is a forest fire 20 miles north of you until you go out to the car for more alcohol and see all the ash on the windshield!

Aaannnyyyhow, the ride over the pass from Marblemount to Winthrop was spectacular, and as the road straightened out, we could see the smoke from that fire (Crescent Mountain) like you see the fog when you approach the ocean.

We passed the fire staging area and entered Winthrop, a cute western look tourist town. Five miles south the air was better and our site was pleasant (and satellite friendly last year!)

You say: Rich don't you have a dish on a tripod so you can park under a tree and still have the best of both worlds? I say: Yep, and I won't be leaving it in the garage next time!

Turns out the farther north you go the lower in the sky the satellites are AND the higher the trees are!!

Across the river from our site is the North Cascade Smokejumper Base. They allow tours, although the plane was not there, a few jumpers were on site and one gave us a tour. This was the first base dating back to 1939. We were shown the equipment and he answered questions while showing us the training tower and parachutes being folded, etc. Quite interesting to hear how up to 8 jumpers jump from a small plane with 90 pounds of gear strapped on and hope they don't land in a tree, but are equipped to rappel down if they do. The plane circles and drops 3 days worth of supplies and tools for them to fight (usually) lightning strike fires.

Bonney Lake

We usually don't target metropolitan areas when we travel, unless we know someone, etc. We had met Barry and Della at Quartzsite 2 years ago when we happened to end up next to them.

We enjoyed glamping with them and since they spend a few months in Fresno visiting their grandchildren, have had them by the house and met for dinner since then. We had arranged to visit them "in their natural habitat" in Bonney Lake, WA.

We found a close by RV park and they prequald it for our visit. When we arrived they greeted us with wine and hors d'oeuvres. We then went down to the waterfront and had dinner. There was a little smoke but it just looked overcast. The smoke was "coming from Canada". Everyone turned out to see us!

The next day we did laundry and dealt with an electrical problem that turned out to be a bad breaker at the their power pole. Very good response time on the electrician for a fried 50 amp double breaker (not caused by us).

We spent the afternoon at Barry and Della's home which is as dialed in as their coach, and had a wonderful view of the smoke which was worse Tuesday. 



They took us to a great Italian restaurant where I had a 10 meat lasagna which rivaled my own! (Note to self: explore more meats in lasagna)

Shrouded in mystery

From Mount St Helens we headed north to Mt Rainier. Our destination east of Randle, was Cascade Peaks RV Park. This was to be our launching point into the park which can be visited from several directions. A 14,400 feet, it's a commanding presence, that is if you can see it!

The campground was supposedly 500 sites. Walking through it, probably 100 were were employees or long term campers. Only 120 were full hookup sites, and the rest were 30 amp with water but maybe not sewer. There was also a large group site. The entire park was heavily treed and much of it was over grown.

The full hookup area was 20 to 35 percent occupied while we were there and we had nobody on either side which was especially nice since we were under a large tree on the west side and yet it was satellite friendly!

We explored the park both days though never had a view of the top.

Saturday at the Paradise viewpoint (5400 feet), it rained as we drove around and that evening at the site. Only a few tenths but it made for clean air.

The next morning the moisture was burning off and we could see the webcam  at Sunrise (6400 feet) looked clear so we headed out only to find everyone else did too, and they were metering traffic. a car had to go out  for one to go in! 50 mins and we were in!

It was so green! We enjoyed both days and even seeing 5000 feet of clouds was special!

The volcano

After 3 nights in Cannon Beach with coastal cloudy conditions and mid-sixties temperatures, we moved north to Astoria and crossed the Columbia at Longview, then a few miles north, east on 504 to Silverlake. Temps went from 65 to 85 and it seemed smoky. It was a satellite friendly site so both ACs worked hard.

The next day we continued east in the car to Mount St Helens. If you'll remember, the north side of the mountain blew it self off in 1980 creating a huge landslide and literally blasted trees off the landscape for miles.

The landslide also filled a lake (Spirit Lake) sloshing the water 800 feet up the hillside and eventually raising the lake level 200 feet! Debris filled the lake and even today the surface of the lake still is partially covered with blown down trees.

The first shot is the crater (sorry it's hard to see with the smoky haze. The next 2 are a river that drains from the mountain. All the erosion is since 1980! The devastation is still obvious.

We stopped a few miles down the highway to see the sediment dam and had to hike through a reforested section which shows how it can be after reforestation of 30-35 years. Imagine hundreds of years of growth.

Cannon Beach

This trip was planned around going back to Cannon Beach, Oregon which we had come across a few years ago in the car. North of Portland, this quaint coastal resort area, rated as one of the top 100 most beautiful places in the world by National Geographic (Google it) is not the place you want to go for auto parts, gas, Walgreens, or a starbucks. There were a lot of shops, homes and the beach was outstanding. They even have a rock.

Haystack Rock, while not as big as Morro Rock is prominent and accessible and defines the town in a random beach shot if the rock is included in the backdrop. The town reminds one of Carmel with all the cute cottages. They were smart enough to keep access limited to 101 to the east of town with 3 exits. They also have Ecola State Park as the northern neighbor, so when you run out of things to do in town, you can go up there and hike or take pictures!

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse 

Cannon Beach from the north

We took a drive up to Seaside. A very old beach community, that reminded me of Santa Cruz, no amusement park but the main street had bumper cars, shooting galleries, etc. There was going to be the 37th annual volleyball tournament this weekend and people were setting up the courts in the sand. 150 courts and 1500 teams!

There is a 1.5 mile Promenade between the beach and the homes which made for a nice walk.

In search of one good bar

We had become "those people". You know, the ones that sit in a restaurant on their smart phones, not talking. Sitting at a traffic light on their phone, etc. 

We had a 3 night stay in Jesse Honeyman State park. Truly a wonderful park with large treed sites, where kids pedal their bikes all over, playing outside probably because there is no WIFI and cell service is choked off because too many users are too far away from the weak cell tower!!

Thus we were relegated to going into town for any reason (well by now you know the reason) to find bars. Not like the days on motorcycles, not those bars.

Florence is cute town mostly on the north side of the Siuslaw river (they all seem to be at a river). Little did they know back when they were deciding to make it a town that it wasn't such a good idea to be in a Tsunami zone! These are all marked and we have passed through dozens of them.  

We parked and walked their old town, I sat on a bench and surfed while Lyn found a new purse. We headed up the coast a bit further to catch the Sea Lion Cave where you ride an elevator down over 200 feet to a cave where seals hang out (no bars). From there we saw a lighthouse but the tours were closed until mid-September (who scheduled that repair?).

The fourth day we closed up and moved on towards  Lincoln City (about 80 miles). The GPS routed us inland (about 346) miles and then back to the coast, so we knew this part of the highway was going to be pretty. Everyone else must have gone inland because there was very little traffic and I was passed maybe twice! The road reminded me more of Highway 1 at the north end, passable but lots of 25 - 35 mph curves and twists and ups and downs.

The further north we got the more touristy it seemed to get (closer to Portland?) Now we are at the Lincoln City KOA (Journey) which is run by a couple who fulltimed for 15 years. (Journey means it's not trashed up with cabins, pools or patios) A very tidy facility with about 85 sites. Our site is not "satellite friendly" and we are jonesing for the next episode of Yellowstone with Kevin Costner.

While stuck in rush hour traffic in Lincoln City which is about 4 miles long and a half mile wide, my beautiful and capable navigator said "turn right" and routed us through beach neighborhoods. They apparently can just build up if they want a better view as we saw a few 4 story homes (no RV access). These cottages were small and clinging to hillsides. No earthquakes here! 

We're on the road again! The goal is to escape the heat which in Fresno is now 21 days of triple digits. This year we are not going so far and have booked 5 or 6 weeks of reservations up the Oregon coast, through Washington state, on to Glacier, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons and then we'll see.

We had planned to blast up to Redding and take 299 across to the coast but seems like they decided to have a fire and 299 is closed. We were lucky to get a reservation in Napa, and decided to brave the traffic through the bay area. We got lucky with the traffic and arrived Friday about 2 to find a nice park and 82 degree temps!

We talked to a few neighbors and went out to dinner and retired early happy to be out of the heat.

Saturday we bugged out early as we had 5 hours to drive. Up the Napa Valley's east side on the Silverado Trail towards 101 finally making it to Arcata and another nice park and 62 degrees.  We'll TAKE IT!!!

We have been on high alert with the fridge as Thursday when it was 102 in front of the house and in the MH, the fridge was not happy. Even Friday morning at 6 am when in the coach it was 78, the fridge was 38.  I found the manual and read about diagnostics which passed and noticed they think there should be two 4 inch box fans behind the fridge to help move hot air which don't appear to have been included.  😟 I also ohmed out the thermister which seemed to be pretty close  and moved it to the second fin instead of the fourth fin (no joy). Any project to add airflow behind the fridge kind of implies removal.

As we neared the 101 we passed through an area burned out in the Santa Rosa (Tubbs) fire last year. We also could see a smaller fire with CalFire scurrying around as we were on 101 just south of Ukiah. 

Tomorrow Oregon!