Last night there were a couple fiberglass-rattling downpours but the temperatures outside are very mild. Recently we have been in unseasonably warm weather in Eugene, Florence, Remote and Lakeside and the cool weather here is joyous to me. Peggy wears a coat.
We have recently been dazzled by driving up Oregon’s gorgeous river valleys and, even though Peggy and I both lived here back in the Pleistocene, we decided to drive up some of the valleys in the Coos River watershed. When I was young and erroneously believed I was Invisible, invulnerable, talented and handsome, I worked for Weyerhauser in the logging industry and drove either up one or the other river road every weekday for almost 10 years. Back then, I could tell you what every approaching corner looked like and the maximum possible speed for successfully rounding it.
Today was my chance to affirm my firm belief that my memory of these roads was absolutely crystal-clear and I would be able to regale Peggy with tales of who lived where, which corners were tight and the location of former good friends’ mishaps into the rivers. We had barely started up the Allegany side of the river when I noted that a considerable amount of the scenery seemed very pretty but mostly unfamiliar. Further explorations reinforced my new belief that I can remember a puny fraction of the places I passed through hundreds of times in the past although there is the caveat that the trees and brush are now 35 years older. So are the houses that are still standing. We drove up both the Allegany (north side of the Coos River) and the Dellwood roads to the gravel where we turned around. We spotted some turkeys. On the Allegany side, we also spotted some enormous fields of high-grade marijuana growing with little happy men tending them. The smell downwind, where we were, was luscious. There certainly wasn’t this much bud stock growing in plain sight when I lived here. It was illegal then but since then the clever Oregonians took care of that problem by making it not illegal.
When I was working on the Dellwood side and was a logging newbie, I was sitting next to a guy named Jay Scanlon on the crew bus (an ordinary conventional school bus but with no discernible suspension system and referred to as a “crummy” in logger parlance) as we watched the sharp rocks of the immediately adjacent road cuts pass within inches of the side of the crummy. Scanlon commented that the driver was really talented to round round the narrow curves without grinding the crummy against the dense sandstone. Right then, there was a massive bang and subsequent horrible scraping, giving all the passengers a quick re-seating along the green vinyl schoolchild benches lining the left side of the crummy. It was only after we got off and told the driver to continue without us that we noted as the crummy drove away that there was plainly a problem with the rear suspension making the vehicle crab to the right. The river was coming up on the right so we were happy to catch the next crummy to town.
Weyco abandoned ship here about 25 years ago. Their facilities along Coos Bay, in addition to a 200,000 acre timber farm east of town, were a credit union, an administrative building, an infirmary, a 3/4 mile long sawmill, a big plywood mill, bay side wharves and a bark-burning steam powerhouse which used to emit massive columns of suspiciously pinkish steam around the clock. The land where Weyerhauser used to have their massive bay side sawmill in town was ceded to the local Indians and they razed the mill and built the RV park where we are currently camped. A small remaining part of the former Weyco plywood mill sits across the parking lot from The Mill Casino, Hotel and Tower which stand where most of the plywood mill and powerhouse used to engage in vigorous commerce.
The afternoon weather started looking ominous so we took the long way back to our park and hunkered down inside the Barbarian Invader. Peggy is making soup as I write and the savory odors coming from the stove are quite distracting. The End
We got some photos, including the reefer, that you can see if you click here

When we awoke, the gentle thumping of rain on the fiberglass parts could be detected. Fortunately for us, it quit early and we closed up our RV, hooked the trailer to the truck and departed from Osprey Point RV Park in Lakeside, OR. It was nice at this park; the wifi was pretty good, the amenities were extensive (even a bar), roads were good, the staff was responsive and friendly, it is located on a lake shore and the surroundings are peaceful and gorgeous,
Our travel plans for today were unambitious and we soon arrived at The Mill Casino and RV Park in Coos Bay. The Mill RV Park is about 20 miles from Osprey Point. The Mill RV Park has good wifi, a nearby audible highway, adjacent Coos Bay Rail Link tracks used early in the morning and with considerable air horn work, a neighboring casino, a great view across the Bay, tree-filled horizons and full hookups. Spaces are adequate, but cozy. We pulled into our space, set up and were all squared away by noon. I envisioned a cocktail and a nap. Peggy had other ideas and went out for an excursion with her sisters in the afternoon.
Peggy said they were going to a quilt show, but you know how those sisters can be. By universal acclaim, they promptly went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Herradura. Peggy reports good food except their enchiladas were inside out. Strangely, the enchiladas Peggy got had salsa verde (green, for the gringos) on the outside and salsa rojo (the red stuff) on the inside. Christmasy. We generally see the tomatillo or tomato sauce on the outside, but not here.
Then the trio popped in at the Coos Sand & Sea Club quilt show and I can speculate that Peggy and her sisters gave all the work thorough scrutiny. Then they sort of went house shopping before heading over to their childhood home to gaze upon it one more time before the new owners get it, which may be happening right now.
While cruising around, one of Peggy’s sisters stated that she feels much better after nearly crapping out recently. A trip to the hospital in Salem got her back on her feet, primarily due to the ministrations of her new cardiologist with the unfortunate name of Ashit, allegedly pronounced Ah-sheet. I don’t know if that is his first or last name but it seems he would have suffered mightily during his junior high and high school years. Uhh…Uhhh.. I can’t resist! Is his first name Take, C., Give, Yuur or I’m? In any event, he is reported to be a great cardiologist. I’m not kidding.
Peggy got a picture of her sister having a lemon and a quilt you can see if you click here

We took Charlotte out for a test drive today. During the drive, we did not witness any clouds of smoke belching from the tailpipe but there may be a rattle from the tailpipe assembly that needs to be addressed. I’ll climb under Charlotte’s ample bed and give the exhaust pipe a sniff.
We stopped by the Umpqua Lighthouse again, mostly because I like it there so much. We checked out the camping at nearby Tugman State Park and it is quite nice. We cruised through the town of Winchester Bay, passing a cannery on the docks that emanated an acrid smell of rotten fish that was almost biblical.
Finished in town, we headed out onto 101 and then east on OR-38 for another glimpse of the elk herds in the Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area about 3 miles from Reedsport. It was a little early for elk (they seem to dine around late afternoon or early evening) so we passed the elk viewpoints and continued up to the road for Dean Creek which extends south from OR-38.
We had barely gotten started up Dean Creek when we came across a very impressive bull elk chaperoning his harem of cows and they were magnificent-looking. Dean Creek was also very scenic although we chickened out and turned around about 5 miles later when the road turned from asphalt paving to gravel.
We even got in a trip to the grocery store to stock up on vittles. We will be leaving Lakeside and the Osprey Point RV Park tomorrow and heading south again, this time to Coos Bay.
We got a few pix. Click here

This was the day for us to take Charlotte into Coos Bay’s Tower Ford for some exhaust system repair, namely a replacement DPF which stands for diesel particulate filter or double priced fubar. The poor girl has been periodically emanating vast clouds of white smoke for the enjoyment of all but we didn’t like it.
We had an appointment for the truck to go up on the rack at 2:00 PM. We also had an agreement that a loaner would be available for us because we did not want to spend four hours in their little waiting area with uncomfortable furniture.
The truck finally got raised off the ground at 3:10. The way we found out it was late going in for work was because we were still hanging out in the waiting closet. The loaner we were to drive apparently did not exist except in the service writer’s imagination.
Along about 5:15, the four hours of labor paid for was completed in a record 2 hours and 5 minutes. The Ford book that lists job durations and costs seems to be rigged in Ford’s favor because our bill still made us pay for the full, imaginary cost.
We headed back home to our RV park in Lakeside after being skinned by Ford. Not surprisingly, when we turned into our park, the tailpipe assembly made a funny rattling sound. It also made the sound when Peggy would slam the passenger side door. I was pretty pissed so I kicked the tailpipe but, after that, the tailpipe quit making the sound when the door was slammed. Maybe I fixed it. We will find out tomorrow when we take Charlotte out for a low-speed cruise in the coastal Oregon forests.

We were slugs today. We got up late. The weather was gorgeous. We had a sizable breakfast. We took long showers. Peggy whipped up a savory evening meal involving turkey and Gorgonzola. It was great.
We did get the laundry done. I should probably make that “Peggy got the laundry done and I was in the laundry with her.” The best part about the whole day was the total lack of remorse we had about being lazy.

Today was the day to address Charlotte’s flatulence problem. Our 2008 F-250 has a 6.4 liter engine made by Navistar, which I think is a code name for International Harvester, longtime purveyor of substandard diesel heavy equipment. Back in the dim past, I worked for a logging outfit that used IH (read “Cornbinder”) bull dozers and they were spectacularly mediocre in performance and economy. Now I find Ford farmed (and that’s no idle descriptor) the engine manufacture in their 6.4 liter-equipped diesel to Navistar .
One of the terrible aspects of the motor system is that it requires a DPF (diesel particulate filter) in the exhaust system and, not surprisingly, it eventually plugs up and begins highly wonky operation. Our poor Charlotte has recently liberated some truly impressive clouds of white smoke, always in town where we can let other motorists and air breathers enjoy the design as much as we do. Sometimes the giant miasma of smoke pours out of the twin tailpipes for miles, bringing joy and burning eyes to the masses.
Accordingly, we took Charlotte to Tower Ford in Coos Bay. The mechanic, Ron, pretty much explained what ramifications there are for folks like us who have bought F-250s with the 6.4 liter Navistar engines – replacement of the overly complicated and poorly designed DPF system or, more plainly, $3,306.
Maybe I should reconsider my ardent touting of Ford products based on my wonderful experiences with Charlotte’s motor. We bought the truck used, but it was in great shape. Initially, the motor worked perfectly. We have been into the Pacific Northwest three times, once all the way around the country counter-clockwise, into the Great Basin in early 2016, once to Vegas and a quick 7,000 mile trip to Texas late in 2016 and early in 2017. Up until 2017, the engine did quite well but things have been a bit crummy since. Our first Navistar engine took a shit in Amarillo, Texas, and we were obliged to replace it with another, new Navistar engine in Santa Fe. That cost $21,000+ if we don’t count car rental, inconvenience, additional travel or costs for an extended stay in New Mexico while the engine was changed out. This last May we had to replace the alternator but the little whirring unit had 180,000 miles on it and I can forgive that. Now we are going to replace the DPF system for three grand and a couple month’s allowance. We are scheduled to have our money extracted Friday. This repair will now make the cumulative costs for repairs exceed the purchase price of the truck. As Donald Trump tweets – “Sad.” Might be time to consider (shudder) Chevrolet or, frighteningly, Dodge.
A good part about yesterday was we got to see my brother’s widow who lives in Coos Bay. To make things even better, she took us to a great fish place called Captain’s Choice for dinner and paid. The red snapper was very tasty. So was the clam chowder.

We drove about 60 or 70 miles south to Powers, OR, where we own some vacant land. We were thinking of maybe getting sewer, water and electrical service re-installed at the lots so we can park our trailer there and hang out during the gorgeous summer months. We don’t want to be here in the winter. It rains here from mid-September to the 4th of July and we want no part of that.
We met the guy that controls public works in Powers at our property. After a short chat, we wandered over to city hall to fill in some forms to get the work started. We’ll get back to them in a while. The last time we asked the city to do something, nothing happened so we will have to wait to tell if anything is cooking over in the government building this time.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around Coquille Valley roads. While cruising, our truck started emanating smoke at certain times and it looks like it needs to go into the dealership to make it quit. I hate it when the equipment fouls up – the engine is under warranty and it may not cost us anything but I still don’t like it when the tow vehicle isn’t working perfectly.
Back at our RV park in Lakeside, we were treated to a spectacular sunset. I like this travel stuff.
There’s pix. Click here

We had such a great time up the Umpqua yesterday that we returned today. About 15 miles up river from Reedsport and US-101, we turned off to see a place called Loon Lake. I lived near here back in the Stone Age but I had never been to Loon Lake, at least not that I remember. The road to Loon Lake from OR-38 (the highway that follows the lower Umpqua River) is pretty narrow and has many tight turns but it is beautiful anyway.
At the top of the 7 miles up to the lake, the road passes through a big field of massive boulders (3 bedroom house sized) that let you know you have reached the end of a steep canyon that the lake empties into before running into the Umpqua. The lake is very pretty. There is an RV park up there that must cater to the extremely brave because they are the only ones that would pull a big RV up that road.
After Loon Lake, we got back on OR-38 and resumed our eastward drive up to Wells Creek, basically a pullout along the road where my Dad used to live before he died. Somebody bought his place and they don’t appear to be using the property. The blackberries are going to eat the house. It is kind of sad when I think about how much work my Dad put in at this place.
We then returned toward the ocean, passing by the elk pastures I mentioned yesterday. In Reedsport we spotted a place called Ellie’s Chainsaw Art and it appears Ellie is pretty good with a saw. The town has apparently decided that Ellie is talented, too, because they have chainsaw-created wooden statues all along the sidewalks of the main drag. They also have giant flower arrangements attached to all their streetlights and the flowers are open for business this summer.
See some pix. Click here

Today we had an open agenda so we took a cruise up the Smith and Umpqua Rivers and took a side trip to the Umpqua Lighthouse south of Winchester Bay. The Smith River dumps into the Umpqua near Reedsport, OR. Back in a previous age, I did some logging in the Smith River watershed but it was about a million years ago. The trip up the Smith today was to see if I could recognize some of the sights and roads that seemed so vivid to me but, alas, I could not identify anything. The drive up and back, however, was gorgeous. We spotted a massive bull elk with unwieldy antlers looking up at us from the shoreline. He was magnificent.
After about 20 miles on the Smith, we headed back toward the ocean until we made it to US-101 in Reedsport. About a mile south on 101 and we turned east again, this time up the lower Umpqua River to where we knew the Roosevelt elk from the surrounding timber hang out. No sooner had we spotted the pasture where we sometimes see elk and there they were. It appears there are either two large herds or one really humungous herd that have wandered down into the roadside pasture where they know they won’t be shot by some overzealous hunter or poacher.
The big bulls were dutifully chasing off the young suitors interested in their harems. Much grunting and whistling and chuffing was being used by the big guys trying to keep the youngsters way out at the edge of the cows. They augmented the noises with some road work as they chased the young bulls off into less interesting parts of the pastures. Mating season is next month and I suspect the big bulls will become more feisty with the punks come fun time.
After quite a while, we finally moved off and headed back west toward the coast. We made it to 101 again, turned south and pulled off going west about 5 miles later in Winchester Bay. We took a long drive into the impressive Oregon Dunes which run from North Bend to Florence. They are big dunes – some Sahara-sized specimens were spotted, many of them with fancy dune buggies squirrelling around.
Standing above the dunes at the mouth of the Umpqua is the venerable but still operating Umpqua Lighthouse. It is the last human-manned light on the Oregon coast. It is also unique in that it puts out both white and red light so the beacon at sea looks like it does a couple whites and then a red. The lighthouse looks out over the ocean but it is surrounded on the other three sides by conifer trees. If you stand near the lighthouse in the evening, you can see the slowly rotating lights on the trees and then the beacons blast out to sea. It is a gorgeous old structure allegedly architecturally quite similar to the Heceta Head Lighthouse north of Florence. We will probably return here to see the facility doing its thing at night.
There’s some lighthouse and elk pix you can see if you click here

We had an open agenda for today so we started by taking a cruise east of our current RV park in Lakeside, OR. However, before we even left the park, we noted a kite festival or some type going on in the adjacent city park and the kites were very spiffy. They even had an enormous kite shaped like a whale shark and it looked like it was swimming when it flew.
Since we got out engine replaced back in March, the function it performs called “Cleaning Exhaust Filter” has been weird. Sometimes, at low speed, the truck puts out clouds of gray smoke when it is cleaning the filter, choking anybody foolish enough to tailgate. It quits after a few miles but anyone behind us when it is doing it had best fall back.
After leaving a pall of stinky smoke down the main drags of Lakeside, we turned out toward US-101 where we could punch it and get the engine running a bit harder. Sure enough, after a bit of freeway speed, the smoke quit. We had driven as far as Winchester Bay and we were going to wander out to the Umpqua Lighthouse when we got a call from our daughter. It turned out she was only about 10 miles from our current digs at Osprey View RV Park. We agreed to meet there.
It was a complete surprise to me since the next time I expected to see my daughter was going to be in late 2018. We got to chat a bit with our kiddo before she had to continue her drive back to her soon-to-be former lodgings in Mukilteo, WA.
We hung at the trailer for a bit before getting bored and going out for a walk around the RV park. It is actually quite nice here, other than the puny RV spaces. The weather is being quite cooperative with temps around 72, sunny skies and nice breezes. I was so delighted with where I was that I even agreed to accompany Peggy to the local market for supplies. We are now stocked up, set up in a place we want to be and ready for some more of the ravages of retirement.
We took some pictures and you can see some of today’s sights if you click here