August 28th

I can hardly wait to be on the road again.  Cyndy was busy cleaning the trailer from one end to the other today.  It really looks good, she does a great job and I really enjoy see here smile when she is busy in our coach getting it ready to move.  We both can't wait to pull the slides in and hit the road again.
This afternoon we went for one more ride out to the beach before we head for home.  We wanted to see how Turbo would do on the ride.

Here we are leaving the campground and he can't wait for the open dunes.

He really did good, and enjoyed the wind blowing in his face.

Yep, Turbo likes the wind in his face.

Here he is looking at me and I can tell he is ready for more.

OK, I am getting a little tired of this, lets pick up the pace.

Ok, I know there has to be some more "woppy does" here some where.
I really don't like them, they cause me to bonce around to much.

Yah, we made it to the beach, but that water looks to cold for me.

I like mom's lap, it is warm!!!
We had a pretty good day, we don't know what we are going to do tomorrow.  It is suppose to rain so maybe just sleep in and do nothing.

August 27th

These last three months have just flew by.  Next week at this time we will be loading up everything and getting ready to open a new chapter in our traveling life style.  We have enjoyed working for Steve's ATV Rental, I have learned a lot about RZR's and look forward to keeping ours up and serviced when needed.  Steve has treated us really well and hope our paths cross in the future, but not working playing would be more fun.
Today I got the final repairs done on the truck, the only thing left is getting the oil changed and that will be next Tuesday morning.  Then it will be time to start loading the trailer.  We are slowly moving things around, but taking our time.
We will be leaving here on Wednesday morning and heading to Seaside TTN park for a few days before heading home.  I paid all that money to us these parks we might just stay in one for a couple of days before heading home.  We don't know what is going on tomorrow yet.  In the morning I have to install a new gas pump on our tank so that will take a couple of hours then it is time for us to play, maybe we will go to the farmers market in Coos Bay!!!!

August 22nd

Cyndy and I looked into the jello bowl after it settled down and found that it was time for us to really look at what we are doing.  As some of you know I retired in 2007 and we became full timers and really enjoyed it.  But last year at this time we though I needed to take a job and build up our reserves a little bit.  After a year in one spot, way to long, it is time for us to hit the road and spend some time with our family and friends again.
We gave our two week notice last Monday and we will be gone from here on September 4th heading back up to Washington to spend some time with our family.  We are not sure what is going to happen this winter yet, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.  It seems like both Cyndy and I are ready for us to start another chapter in our life as full time RV'ers.  We are looking at going back to Adventure Caravan as Wagonmaster/Tailgunners.   We really enjoyed this life style and look forward to see some of our old friends and making new ones. 
As we find out what trips we will be doing this next summer we will let everyone know.  But for right now we are happy to be going home to be with our family and friends.

August 8th

It is hard to believe that it has been over a week since I last posted anything.  It seems like all we have been doing is working and laying around waiting for the weather to get better.  As we say here on the coast if it is hot in the valley it is foggy here on the coast.  Boy has it been over cast lately, we get up to Oregon mist and go to bed with Oregon mist.  Today was really nice though so we got up had a great breakfast of biscuits and gravy, Cyndy's favorite.  I really like it too, but she just ate a little bit, but me I made a pig out of my self.
With the sun out we headed up to Bandon to get some pictures of the Coquille River Lighthouse and check out the Face Rock Creamery.

  Yep, when we got to the lighthouse it was still a little foggy, and this Seagull was in no hurry to move.

Turbo got up on a log and looked at me and said see I can stand here like that dumb bird did.

Here is a little history about the Lighthouse, this is easier to take a picture and post it then type it all in.

Yep, the fog is still here, but I think the sun is starting to burn thru.

Ok the sun is out get some picture's before the fog comes back in.  There is a nice visitors center here and you can take a tour up into the lighthouse.

As you can see by looking out towards the ocean the fog is coming in!!!!!

 

I hope when we get to the other side it will still be clear!!!

As you can see we didn't make it before the fog rolled back in, maybe next time.

There is a fellow here in town that made these art works out of things he picks up off the beach.

It is amazing how some ones junk can be art when put into the right shapes.  We were going to stop by his shop and get some information about some of his other art but he was gone, must of been out collecting more stuff!!!

So as you head into Bandon from the north on 101, watch for this sign.  They had their grand opening in May of this year and they have some really good cheese here.  We sampled a few of them and I walked out with garlic cheese and Cyndy found a couple of more also.  We also tasted some of there specialty wine and yes got a bottle of that too.

We were hoping to see them making some cheese today but we heard they just got done and everything is nice and clean now.  But if you are in the area stop by and sample some of there cheese and maybe have and ice cream cone also.  Because I am on a real good diet I didn't have any, the truth being I was still to full from breakfast to have one, but next time I will come in with a little less in the belly.
We headed back to Box Car and low and behold the sun was still out so Cyndy and I went for a ride.

Cyndy wanted to see where I take everyone when I bring them out on a tour here in the dunes.  After climbing to hills I stopped here to take a picture of the bridge going into North Bend which is part of 101.

If you look real close in the upper right corner of the picture near the water you can see a house there.  It took me over a month of coming out here before I found that place.  It is owned by Ducks Unlimited from what I heard.

Here is a better picture of it.  Below are a few other pictures of the dunes.

Here down by the lake we find another house, with solar panels on it.

We had a great ride I thought, Cyndy said do you really take people through all of that.  Maybe you should tone it down a little.  I said I haven't had any complaints yet.

It has been a while but we had a great ride.  We are looking forward to this next week because out kids will be down and I get to chase them around in the dunes.  So maybe some more pictures next week.

July 31st

The last day of the month and I can't believe it, the wind has died down to something around 8 or less.  Finally, we can sweep the sand out and not see it blow back in as fast as we sweep it out.  I think one reason it has stop blowing is that inland it has cooled down and we are getting a off shore push of cool weather with a little rain.
This morning we got up and went for a ride up to Winchester Bay to see what all the hop law is about this so called "Dune Fest".

This is what this area looks like on just any normal weekend or week day.  But when Dune Fest comes to town it turns into this.

As you can see it has turned into a small city of RV's and sand toy's. We had a heavy over cast all day too.
Each year Dune Fest is put on to promote family fun here in the dunes.  It is a five day event with Treasure Hunts, Poker Rides, moto-cross racing, sand drags, along with a 3 days of safety lessons for all kids.  Then on Friday and Saturday night they will be rocking the Dunes with classic rock bands.
Our first stop was vendor row to see all of the new things coming out in the market for Side by sides.

As you can see, we got here before the crowds started to show up, like 10:00 AM.

We had to take a good look at this RZR.  The guy that owned it was getting some new shocks put on it by this vendor, they went for more then what I could afford.   Any way this guy races this down in the desert of California, Arizona and Nevada.  It was nice talking to him, the only thing be could say is this sand is easy to get stuck in.  He has added a 20 gallon fuel tank to this and along with all of the other things it is a little heavy for playing in the sand. 

 Cyndy found her favorite sweater and t-shirt shop, "Girls get Dirty Too.  She did a lot of looking and talking to the owner, she is hoping to talk the owner of Steve's ATV Rental into buy some sweatshirts and T-shirts for the desert this winter for us to sell.  More clothing for the store!!!

Cyndy even found the Geico lizard to have her picture taken with.

Now this is my kind of tour vehicle, only if it was a Ford.

Cyndy is always looking for a good by on a trailer, has to be better then the one we have now.  Don't tell her but I kind of like this one, too!!!

Lets see if Cyndy gets a new trailer maybe we can get this 1000 RZR.  Polaris had a big display here day viewing the new 1000, starting tomorrow you can test drive them.  I went to sign-up and all the slots had already been taken for tomorrow. 

All of the big side-by-side manufacture's had displays here.  This is all the closer Cyndy would let me get, it is better for both of us, our 800 will do us just fine.  That's what I keep telling myself.

We did spot a couple of off the wall vehicles out here.

That Camaro really looks sharp.  but I still like

  this one the best!!!!
After a morning of walking around this area, (wish I had brought the RZR) we head out for lunch and a drive up to the Elk viewing area to see how the elk are doing. 

They are still in velvet, but I think there antlers have stopped growing and they have some nice racks.  There was a lot of cows hanging out here to but did not see any spicks of two points.  They must be hiding up in the woods.  We had a nice enjoyable day of just be tourist and see the sights.  We don't know what we are doing tomorrow, that's the nice thing about RV living if you don't feel like doing nothing you don't!!!!!

July 25th

Got up early this morning, 7:30AM and head to the Ford dealership in Coos Bay.  Got their at 8:00 and by 3:00PM they had the new 463 gears installed and replaced all the bearings also.  I had a felling something wasn't right when I took it in and sure as all get out one bearing was shoot and the other one was on its last leg.  So now I have a 410 Pin and Ring gear that looks like new.  Maybe some one might need it, so I will pack it back home.  Oh, Yah, and I got a senior discount also, it does pay to ask when you get something done like this.  I just have to make sure every time I ask!!!!

We also took a ride to the Coos County Fair & Rodeo.  There as a lot of FFA and 4-H displays.  Cyndy looked at a lot of quilts and I looked at them also, but a lot faster.  We enjoyed walking around the Fair and see all of the other 4-H & FFA.
Most of the day we got some things done around the coach that needed to be done.  Its hard to believe that in just over 6 weeks we will be pulling out of here and heading to Washington for Doctor appointments and visiting with family then south for the winter.  Time fly's when you get older.!!!!!!

July 24th

We had a great day today.  We started off with a big breakfast, which I like and Cyndy kind of picks at.   But I can't complain, she has been losing weight lately which she really likes and she is felling a hole lot better and if mom is happy everyone is happy.  Keep it up honey!!!!   I just wish I could lose as much as she has?
Anyway we took off this morning for some Geocaching around the area.  We have finally went over 200 finds, and we are on our way to 300 some time in the future.
One of the places that we found a cache was near this memorial in Florence, Oregon.

This was a War Memorial and it was done in a beautiful back drop of the bay.  To find it was just a lot of luck but we did find the cache here after admiring the wall.

We found these birds nesting on some old pine trees that are dead from all of the bird poop.  These birds are called, "Cormorants" they are known for their great fishing skills.   We did find this cache also but first we had to watch out for falling bird poop, the trail took us right under these birds.
So we can say now that we are at 205 fines and going forward, we are hoping before we leave here to be close to 250.  There are a lot of caches in this area so maybe we will meet our goal.
Tomorrow I take the truck into Ford dealership to rebuild the rear-end dif.  It has been making some noise's lately that I don't like to hear, so while I am doing that I am gearing it down to a 463 gears.  It should make a big difference or I am hoping in pulling and backing. 
Today they started building up the dune here in our park, hoping to cut down on the wind. 

 When it is all done it will be about 30 to 40 feet higher were they are at right now.  It will help cut the wind down from 40 to 9 mile per hour when done.  They are going to be adding bark to the mix and that is to help hold the sand and start some vegetation growing which will stop the sand from moving over the parking lot.  I hope it works.