Trees...Trees... and more trees!

     We've drove throughout this country and have seen many a forest of tall trees, pine trees, big trees, huge trees like the redwoods or sequoia.  We've seen miles and miles of trees where we never knew trees to have grown in numbers like we've seen.  Logging trucks in the north, logging trucks in south and southeast and for sure in the northwest where we're at today.  These all are used for the usual like building wood, paper, cardboard, and the scrapes being used now days in plywood type products and pressed boards.  I never gave it a thought that trees would be something we would "export" until I visited Coos Bay, Oregon and this part of the Oregon coast.
    We see down the street piles and piles of wood chips, not only piles but mounds and mounds of chips of wood.  Then a little ways down from the mounds of chips are stacks and stacks of rough cleaned logs 30, 40, 50 feet long logs stacked 10 - 20 feet high and higher.  Then you see ships, big ships that don't look like they fit in this little bay that looks too narrow but has been dredged to depths of 40 feet and more in the middle.
     Now I hear on the local news that the ship docked along side of the docks near the wood chips is on it's maiden voyage from Japan and it's here to be loaded with wood chips!  Yes, it will take 4 days to load this big ships haul with wood chips!  What the heck is Japan going to do with ships full of wood chips?  You ask the questions and find the answers which is Japan takes these chips and make all sorts of paper products, cardboard products etc.  I guess when all your trees are "bonsai" trees they may be too small to make a small fire let alone paper products for a nation like Japan.......LOL.
     Now you look the other direction and see all those trucks and truck loads of logs long rough cleaned logs stack high and find out what's going on with those.............making more chips?  No, all those are awaiting the arrival of ships from China, yes China who has had to clear forest for people!
     All in all we learned a lot about Coos Bay and this tiny bay and how these huge ships get in and out with "pilots" since the narrow inlets need experienced pilots to take over the the ship captains and get the ships to the dock in and out of the Bay with the help of tugs to turn them around.  Amazing stuff learned here in Oregon.

       

Back to Coos Bay, OR.

     I'm beginning to feel like I'm becoming an Oregonian in many way but surely not politically!  We've been in Oregon that long and will be now for another 10 days or so, I don't mind the cool temps but not waking up to sunshine each morning is kind of a bummer!
     We're in Coos Bay earlier than expected, the coach goes into the shop on the 6th of August for the new flooring and water leak repairs and some new furniture.  We're here early to not only make all the arrangements for the coach but to get all secure so we can make a trip in the car back to Sacramento for a few days.  We got news of my cousin Rich Papers wife, Lynn passing away and a service will be on August 5th.  Lynn was a great person with a contagious smile and we only wish we'd met her a lot sooner and got to know her much better.  It had been way too many years between visits to our family in the Sacramento area, where I lived and hung out with these guys so many years ago.  For the past 5 years of so we have been making it a stop during our travels anytime these travels take us near the western United States.  We send Rich and his family our deepest sympathy and will miss Lynn and her hospitality shown us on our future visits, she will be missed by so many for sure.
     Yesterday we picked out the new couch recliners for the motor home, theater seating type setup, and will pick out another chair for just inside the doorway today or tomorrow.  We do look forward to all this work being done so we can get back to traveling.......... we like Oregon but it's time to move on even though we'll miss the cool temps we've so enjoyed.
     Checking out a 9 hole golf course today, Sunset Bay golf course which was designed by the same designer, John Zoller, who designed Poppy Hills and Spyglass in the Monterey area.  Two par 5's, five par 4's and two par 3's and 3000 yards sounds like a nice challenge.  www.sunsetbaygolf.com We visited Poppy Hills a couple of years ago, super nice track..........so beautiful and I'm hoping this place is just a bit as nice!  You know I will have pics on FB sometime after the round of golf so be on the lookout for those.
     I'm not impressed with the bulk of the movies in theaters right now and the past few weeks.  We do patronize theaters wherever we stop and are having a hard time finding those real good movies not like "apes" or "transformers" or superhero's"..............even though that new Spider movie wasn't too bad and we hear Wonder Woman is pretty good, my find out tonight.
     Not many blogs and not many exciting things on this trip, staying for extended times at stops rather that traveling every day or two make for a much different journey.  The gas usage is way way down and that cost is a welcomed change, but at times I think we miss rolling down the road.












     

Florence, OR

     We've been in Florence for a couple of days now and will be here until the 23rd and it looks like we were lucky to get the reservations.  We're at the Port of Siuslaw Marine and RV park, nothing real fancy but very adequate for sure.  The best part might be that we're in walking distance to the marina, down town "Old Town" and all the great eateries and shops!
     We decided on Tony's RV Service and Repair of Coos Bay to find and fix our water leak and do the remodeling of the coach, basically new flooring.  Bev opted for an interlocking wood grain looking laminate that's very durable and has much elasticity to it.  We've also decided to eliminate the couch-hid-abed, the recliner that came with the coach and replace them with new.  We are leaning toward theater type seating recliners and a simpler one for the other side.  Tony's plans on keeping the coach for only 4-5 days to accomplish this, as long as we don't continue to ad little this and that's!  So now we'll be traveling who knows where at this time until August 6th when we need to be back in Coos Bay, OR. to drop of the motor home.
     We have been traveling the west coast of the United States since we left Havasu Springs RV resort the first week of June, and other that a week or so visiting family in Sacramento the weather has been in a word "chilly"....... Even Sacramento cooled off into the mid to upper 80's while we were there.  Today we're looking at partly sunny with a high of 65 and little breeze off the coast.
     Our friend Al Rojas moved here to Florence some years ago and we're visited him two years ago and again last night and days to come.  Al tends bar at the Bridgewater Fish house and Zebra bar, so we had dinner and drinks there last night.  It was good seeing Al again and even his son Sean was working there taking care of tables last night.  Some wonderful seafood, Bev had Halibut and I had the Seafood Thermadore..............after crab cakes and oyster shooters!
     We will be enjoying a walk into old town after getting our yard further setup.......need lounge chairs out to relax and enjoy this weather!  Checkout our digs here:  www.portofsiuslaw.com

      

Oregon.......we have arrived.

     First stop in Oregon is Coos Bay along the coast mid state I'd say.  We plan on spending a little time here in Oregon maybe getting some things done to the coach if the price is right!  We had a great time in California and visiting family in the Sacramento is always nice, we miss seeing them the rest of the years.  If you follow Bev or I or both on FB you've seen a lot of pictures from the July 4th bash at Don and Sharon's to golf and the road in and the road out of California.
     The pictures on FB of the coast line of California and especially the early scenes of Oregon are amazing, and we've traveled way more of the Hwy 101 this trip than ever before.........no interstates or freeways after Santa Barbara and even some of the Hwy 1.  I do get tired of the ups and downs of the roads and the winding curves which can take a toll on ones arms and psyche, just ask Beverly!  I will add that most of the other vehicles on the road wish me and other motor home travelers would take different routes, but what the heck.  I do pull off when possible to let everyone by but it seems California has very few "slower traffic lanes" on their roads, we have already found Oregon has many many more and it was smooth sailing this morning.  For a Sunday the 101 from Crescent, CA to Coos Bay was really light, not many travelers from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm anyway so I didn't ruffle too may feathers today so far!
     Tomorrow we begin the quest of an RV repair and remodeling shop to start getting ideas and the cost of what we can do to upgrade our 11 1/2 year old coach which I noticed this morning is nearing 69,000 miles on it.  We may be in Oregon for at least a week or two if I'd have to guess.....just hope we can get some stuff done!
     Two blogs today, both short and sweet in my estimation..........readership is actually down this trip, am I getting boring or do most of you hate this anymore?  If you'd like let me know via a FB post or something, thanks in advance for your input.

Bandon, OR to Coos Bay ranting about golf

     The plan was to stay in Bandon at an RV park and maybe do a little golfing at one of the Bandon courses, that changed when we checked into the green fee's and caddie fee's!  You need to keep in mind that we have here a 20-21 handicap golfer and his wife you just took the game back up a couple of years ago.  We both enjoy the game and even enjoy playing with each other (from time to time) and we do spend a good portion of our travels looking for and playing some of the nice courses in the areas of our travels.  I really was looking forward to maybe playing a round at Bandon Dunes or one of the six course at the complex, until I heard the rates for this time of year and the "no golf carts" policy!  That's right it's a walking course only and this 70+ year old right now can't walk one hole let alone 18 of them with my hips the way they are.  I might have given up the $325 green fees, plus the $60 caddie fee plus any tips involved which there always is if you're any kind of golfer.  This is all not to mention Beverly would have most likely hated it by the 3rd hole because these aren't even for 20 handicaps let along a hacker (not going to mention her potential handicap right now) but I'm sure I'd have come away with some great pictures!  We ended up going right on by and stopping here at Coos Bay and see they have a couple of course that we'll be most likely giving them a go.
     The average golfer in America shoots rounds in the mid 90's to low 100's which is like a 20 to 30 handicap and the average woman golfer in America has a 28-30's handicap or rounds in the 110's and above.  Even the above average golfers have handicaps in the teens and shoots in the upper 80's to low 90's yet golf course like this try and keep us away unless we pay through the nose to play.  We take Jack Nicklaus's  and Arnold Palmer's advice and play from the "up tee's" because we should based on handicap and to help speed up the game!  I guess I'm just pissed off because I don't want to shell out $810.00 plus tipping the club loading guy and the club cleaning dude not to mention the cart gal for drinks..........ya right, nearing a cool $1000.00 to play Bandon Dunes, we'll have to come back in the winter when the fee's more near $100 and my legs/hips are healed!
     We will play here in Coos Bay and I know we will play in Florence because there is a very nice course there we've played and really enjoyed.

Oh where oh where has Mike's blog been?

     I can't believe it's been over two weeks since I posted a blog on the journey of 2017.  Yes we've been busy but in many different ways from past trips around the country.  We've now been on the road since May 29th (38 days) and are still only 756 miles from home!  As you may remember the marathon of last year was 9,000 miles (8995 to be exact) so we decided to try and stick to the west coast this year and stay longer at each stop.  To this point in the trip we've only stayed at five locations which is averaging a week per stop, but I must say each types of travels both have there pluses and minuses!  Sometimes I miss rolling down the road every day or so but then again I like the idea of not having to hook-up and unhook every day or two also!  To this point in our travels (just in our motor home) we've visited all but 7 states in the lower 48 of states, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Delaware.  The way those last few are situated we could probably hit all of them in a matter of a day or two, but the idea is to visit and enjoy all corners of this great country of ours!  Maybe next year after Iowa.
     Except for the first few days and this past week here in Sacramento we been on the coast with ocean breezes and sea mist everywhere we've stayed.  Those conditions have been enjoyable and relaxing to say the least, and a might chilly in the mornings and evening too for us warm blooded Arizonians.  Even Sacramento cools off in the evenings into morning with the delta breeze reaching down into the 60's and below each day.
     As the first 30 days have been enjoying the coast and what it has to offer, this past week has been spent visiting family and friends here in the Sacramento area.  My cousins the Papers and their families have been as you might imagine most hospitable.  Since we've been visiting over the past few years on and off and after many years of no contact at all we have thoroughly enjoyed each and every visit to my old stomping grounds of the early 60's (I lived in this area from 1959 to 1964)!  Cousin Don has been throwing his 4th of July bash for almost 30 years and we have enjoyed two of the last four with great pleasure, that is along with the 100 other guest on and off throughout the day.
     Now we start thinking about leaving here on Friday (in two days) and continuing our travels northward, but from here on out we have no pre-reserved camp/RV parks we're heading for.  The idea is to continue through northern California into the redwoods and on into Oregon.  We'd like to end up at some point in Bend, Oregon to see about some upgrades to the motor home in the way of flooring and furniture.............depends on if they can get us in and how much it will cost!
     Beverly and I are still enjoying playing a lot of golf at many course during our travels, we have played some very nice golf course so far this trip and plan on doing a lot more of it as we travel north into Oregon.
     Can someone get burned out on San Francisco?  I'm even having a hard time believing we have been an hour away from the Bay area for a week or more now and haven't paid our usual visit for at least lunch at the Grotto/Wharf or in China Town or the Italian villages of San Francisco.  I mentioned going and Bev said "I don't have to so San Francisco this trip"............to my surprise!  We drove down to Bodega Bay home of the movie the "Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock back in 1963 and home to some of the best fresh oysters anywhere!  If we had only new, we drove over there, had a few places in mind we were told about by the young man at the Verizon store but took no small cooler with us.  The places we visited all have hour plus waits for standing room only for oysters on this Sunday afternoon.  Besides flocks of folks waiting for these morsels another flock of folks were taking coolers to another window and getting dozens to go!  We ended up not getting any fresh Bodega Bay oysters or Tomales Bay oysters and now I regret not waiting in line (Bev I don't believe cared, she wasn't too keen on sucking down a dozen oysters anyway).
     Did you notice I said the fella at the Verizon store?  Yes, we seem to only visit our carrier Verizon while traveling for some reason.  I was reminded via a text message from our last time at a Verizon store by a gal from a store in Gulfport, Mississippi that we were upgrade eligible.  I've been trying to get Bev to have our plan looked at since Verizon as others have now been offering unlimited Date and we've been paying for 50GB...................hey we saved quite a bit by stopping by and now have unlimited data too!  Sometimes we waste so much money by not keeping up on things like this.  We both got new phones, but also a new JBL Flip 4 speaker (Free) and an upgrade jet-pack capable of running up to 17 devices!  Now..............where is my 10 year old grandson Jack to help me figure this new phone out?  Our last 5 visits to Verizon Stores have been in the reverse order, Sacramento, Gulfport MS, Des Moines IA, Davenport IA and Coeur d'Alene ID, go figure?
     Well I've bored you enough for this blog, and I hope to do better on the rest of this journey in keeping up to date, even though readership is down compared to years past, I must be losing followers or getting very boring.  Maybe too much posting on FB of the same stuff without all the insight and particulars of out stops along the way, just more pictures.  Oh well, I enjoy these writing and will keep keeping on for those that care.
     Let me close this blog by asking for your prayers for someone dear to us here, prayers that the pain will diminish and some healing will follow.  I know pray helps and Beverly and I ask for your prayers, thank you.