2016 Coming Full Circle

Why we return to Sunset Bay despite rain, floods and all the rest.

Another week passed from our last blog entry before we were able to depart Sunset Bay. We spent the time helping out with the other hosts, even if shirtless Steve refused to allow us to lend a hand cleaning the yurts. With our daily walks through the park, I'm pretty sure we would have had to start an archeological dig to find any more litter.

The day for repairs finally arrived and Porter's RV of Coos Bay did an outstanding job; first in getting us in on short notice after finally getting the parts and then completing the jobs in less than a day. Rather than travel on the weekend, we opted for a final relaxing layover in the park to get travel ready and yes, to test out the repairs. Sort of a mini vacation where we tested more of the local eateries, wandered the beaches and just goofed off.

With only three months with the new rig I have yet to develop the confidence to comfortably drive in tight conditions. Conditions like those found on highway 101 in the redwood forests. There is one short stretch I recall where there are sharp curves, no shoulders and giant redwoods right up against the roadway. A bit stressful in our previous 34 footer and one that gave me nightmares when I considered my now over 55ft tow length. Call me a wimp, I don't mind. I'm a stress free wimp who took highway 42 instead to connect with the interstate.

Speaking of the interstate. I just have to mention how absolutely pleased I am with the job Henderson's Line-Up did for us back in October. The long (boring) stretches of road really demonstrated how much less work I now have to do to keep the motorhome heading straight and true down the road. The greatest challenge I now face is resisting the temptation to simply get up and get my own cup of coffee and where, after four hours of driving I used to start looking for places to stay, it now feels more like we just got started.

I titled this blog “Coming Full Circle” and that is what we have done. Our year started with us in southern California for the first time and we are ending year back in the same area, setting up for our travels further south and east to chase the 70's. Oddly enough the weather has been a repeat as well with rain mixed with snow. The difference is we have triple the windows to look out and admire the scenery.

Looking back, the year has been full of firsts in things we've seen and done and I hope we've captured them in our previous blog entries. Then there are the places we've been to before. These gems have unveiled new facets of themselves revealed only to those already familiar. Complacency however, was not allowed. A place we had taken for granted reached out this year and provided us with a whole new unforgettable adventure. Added to this we have strengthened old friendships and discovered long lost friends we had never met before.

Snow in the hills!

They say 2016 was a year filled with turmoil. Perhaps in the big scheme of things this was seemingly true but in our world life has been – life. We've had ups and downs but I can honestly say the vast majority have been ups. And the downs? Well, if you wait a bit sure enough along comes an up to wipe the down away or at the least make it seem not so severe. It may take a while but it does happen. Life is like that – it goes on.

Enough speechifying!

2017 already looks like it holds a great deal of promise. For us, the first three months will be hanging in the south so I can wear out my flip flops. We have pretty much decided Quartzsite is not for us this year but there are plenty of other places to visit. No firm plans yet, we'll let you know once we know.

Sunset Bay – Oh the Lights! NOT

First thing. I failed. Not a small failure, oh no, nothing that easy. I went full hilt into a total and utter failure of epic porportions. The blame rests entirely at my doorstep and there are no excuses or mitigating circumstances to fall back on.

We are at Shore Acres and I have no pictures in the dark of the lighting of the botanical garden – one of the must see things to do in the area this time of year. I have and will share some of the shots I was able to take before sundown and our friend Gordon Pierce has his video of the garden after dark but as I have stated, I have no after dark shots at all. I had the camera, I knew how to disable the flash and I had set up the first shot with consumate skill and every attention to detail. Except for a recharged battery.

What I ended up with was a nifty weight on a neck strap that imitated a digital camera. A wonderful item that I carried around the garden in the dark - not taking pictures.

Roll the clock back to our last blog entry. We left you as we were evacuated from the flooded park. While sitting in the shop yard awaiting the all clear to return we found we had an issue with one of our slides. Slides are one of the things you really need to be sure of when you hit the road. Having one wander out while driving can be quite distracting and not being able to put one back in can leave your land yatcht aground where ever you may be parked. No problem; emergency tech called. Spent 5 minutes looking at the workings of the slide, another minute picking up and plugging in the breaker that had popped out and perhaps 10 minutes writing up the bill. Oh and by the way, did you know your slide cable was fraying and about ready to break? Ouch to the bill and double ouch for more work to do before we can safely depart.

So, that is why just five days later we ended up back in the park with parts on order and an open appointment with the RV shop to fix our slide when the parts finally arrive. Estimated time: TWO WEEKS! Fortunately under warranty so the work is covered – unlike the emergency tech call out.

The extra time allowed us to visit some other attractions around Coos Bay, do some other routine maintenance and spend some time in our basement storage area straightening up the mess I made of packing when we swapped rigs. Oh and yes, visiting the Shore Acres lighting display during a lull in public attendance and take some really nifty pictures.

See it? There's the silver lining. Oh wait...

Instead I leave you with some pretty nice pictures of the garden in the half light before sundown and a link to Gordon Pierce’s excellent YouTube video.

Gordon Pierce – Shore Acres Video

Sunset Bay – Into each life some rain must fall

Not all camp hosting is fun, games, raccoons and other silly stuff. On occasion it can get darn right serious and our last week here has been one for the books!

We started out anxiously awaiting the arrival of my sister Tricia, and brother-in-law Randy, who were coming down once again to spend Thanksgiving day with us. After a very long drive in mostly rain they did make it safely here and fortunate for us, had decided to stay at the casino. Fortunate in that we really didn't have space for them in the motorhome and I did mention they WERE AT THE CASINO! That sort of excuse to visit a casino is good karma all round.

Thanksgiving day was actually sunny. I'm not referring to the liquid sunshine Oregon provides on an almost hourly basis but actual blue sky bright orange orb in the heavens sunshine. We didn't have to worry about sunburn – the rust stains act as a pretty good sunscreen, probably an SPF 100. Anyway, Chris and I dressed up and headed to the, you guessed it, casino to meet up and ultimately begin grazing on the all you can eat thanksgiving buffet. Talk about a tryptophan overdose!

Getting together with family on the holiday is one of the good things in life. While we had been together just two months prior, once Tricia and Randy arrived it really dawned on us just how much we had missed them and how thoroughly we enjoy their company. Um, well mostly. Sorry, our fondness of being together is not nearly enough for us to go back north to the cold snowy weather. Of course now that they are also motorhome owners maybe they'll be more inclined to head south to chase the 70's like we do.

Back to thanksgiving lunch. After receiving several sly looks from the wait staff (hey, just because we asked for pillows and blankies), we headed back to the park for our traditional session of solving the world's problems while watching movies and trying not to think of just how full we were. By this time, the sun had set and the rains started up – heavy enough to make hearing a challenge and if it had rained cats and dogs I'm sure they would have drowned. This was the “deluge is such a gentle description” type of rain - non-stop bucket upon bucket and I'm pretty sure Noah would have been jealous. I seriously considered breaking out the snorkels before walking Tricia and Randy back to their car.

Friday morning there is a knock on my door and looking at the clock showing only 6am I was just a bit miffed; until I opened the door and was greeted with water lapping over the steps. My dreams of a babbling brook made so much more sense now that I could hear the water running under the rig. This was one of those perfect storm moments. Heavy rains on already saturated ground filled the creek running through the campground to overflowing. Combine a minor flooding creek with a storm surge and high tide to back it up and you have a very rapidly rising and swiftly flowing lake smack dab in the middle of our most popular loop.

That early in the morning there are no park rangers on duty so it fell to the yurt host and myself to wake those guests not already awake and get everyone packing up and moving out. Chris had to stay close to the rig to get it ready to move out and to answer questions from panicky campers. There were even a few who really wanted to ride out the storm where they were – until I let a little bit of my old Coast Guard chief petty officer surface (toned down; after all they are civilians).

Later in the day the sun did come out.

Despite our efforts and unfortunately for one couple the water rose too fast and was too deep to safely hookup. They made the tough but very wise decision to leave their trailer until the tide withdrew and the water lowered. Another couple who had just finished restoring a 1958 Airstream had the very good fortune to have selected one of the very few sites just high enough to stay above water. Later, they hired a flatbed tow truck to carry the trailer out through the remaining flood waters.

Several things went right for us that day. First and foremost, no one was injured. With the exception of the two trailers mentioned, everyone was able to get out of the park with little to no damage (as far as has been reported). Lastly was the cooperation and joint efforts displayed by our campers. I doubt things would have gone as smoothly without it.

Two days have since passed. Chris and I have salvaged as many left behind possessions as we could find in case the owners come back and we're now wrapping up the site cleaning that we can do. The park will have a larger crew coming in and who knows, perhaps in just a couple more days we'll be back open to the public.

We probably won't get to see the reopening, Chris and I will be departing soon to continue our trip sort of southward. Right now we're wrangling over the routes.

Sunset Bay – Camp Host Tales

We have pretty much established a routine work day which, except for weekends, hardly varies. I say EXCEPT for weekends because there is absolutely nothing that could be construed as “routine” in a campground once you add weekenders – those wonderfully lost souls who have come to get away, if even for a very short while from the rat race. For them it is a well earned break or perhaps an exciting new adventure. For us its like the opening credits are finally done and we're on to the main attraction!

Our “show” actually begins outside of the campground on the beautiful beach depicted in the some of the pictures we've posted. Here we find visitors and locals alike enjoying the curling waves, cawing seagulls and the occasional glimpse of seals bobbing in the waves. For people watchers such as Chris and I no time at all passes before the opening act unfolds before us with one visitor turning her back to the ocean to admire something in the sand. I don't believe anyone told her of the wave rules where you NEVER turn your back to the ocean while in the surf line. Of course no one needs to tell her now either as a 2 foot curl caught her right behind the knees sending her backwards into the foamy water. Most of this is what we believe was the case – we didn't see anything until the glass shattering scream caught our attention (guess the water was a bit chilly) to the fully clothed person who looked like she was trying to body surf in way too shallow water. Fortunately for her it was only a short dash back up to the parking lot to retrieve her beach towel.

The beach show continued as the endless cycle of the tide caught the unwary, the incautious and some really good runners-up for the Darwin awards.

At the campground there is always at least one weekender in each loop designated as the star attraction. This person or group has, for one reason or another, captured Mr. Murphy's attention and by sheer willpower (or just the fact they are breathing and have a pulse) are bound and determined to prove the law is true; that anything that can go wrong will.

Take the couple over in A-34 last weekend. First up was the tent poles. I mean that literally. Instead of putting the poles in the guide holes of the tent first as the directions probably say (I'm not really sure though, they had used the directions to light their firelog), this couple had put the poles together and then arranged them on the ground. Placing the tent upside down on the poles they commenced to move it around and around in an attempt to line up the guides with the poles. We came upon this exhibition just as a neighbor began assisting them. I have already nominated the neighbor for the REI Golden Camper award for his patience and in showing these camping novices HIS tent directions – unburnt.

With the tent up and the couple settled into their camp site we were pretty sure we were in for a quiet weekend filled with laughter from kids and adults alike. Nothing could have prepared us for what was next to occur! Raccoons!

In a completely different loop and at the opposite end of the campground, one of the yurt hosts heard what she thought was a domestic violence situation filled with yelling, shouting and some unusual bumps and thumps. Fearing the worst, the host called 911, bringing law enforcement to quell what to her sounded like an escalating situation. This went on for nearly 20 minutes until, upon arrival, the deputy quickly took control of the situation by aggressively shining his light around the camp site and settled the matter almost immediately. While there isn't any dispute over there being a serious disturbance there has since been some extended discussion amongst the hosts whether the two raccoons who had been fighting over a bag of chips were actually in a domestic relationship. Sometimes perhaps it is best to just not know.

The raccoons here are some of the best trained sneaks and ninja warriors you'll find and they are not afraid of campers. Our couple in A-34 learned leaving any food out or a cooler not closed properly will result in a nocturnal visit. In their case they got to see our furry residents up close and personal when a couple of them (I'm unsure if it was the two fighters) joined them at the table to mooch popcorn. Sure, there was the initial shock of meeting them but the couple mentioned the next morning how well trained the wildlife was in the park.

Imagine their faces when we told them we had no trained wildlife. That's why they’re called wildlife.

Thanks for reading this one, a compilation of a few weeks of hosting experiences here and are really some of the main reasons we'll keep coming back to Sunset Bay.

Hey, we got a visit from Gordon and Juanita Pierce and their sub-woofer today. What a welcome surprise!

Confessions of a Park Host

Our time at Sunset Bay State Park and our first gig as the Park Host is sadly concluding at the end of this week. A few months ago I posted about the time paradox thing where time seems to be a super sonic jet or a ruptured duck and November has been breaking the sound barrier daily.

Sunrise at Sunset Bay State Park

The one constant here is just how enjoyable our stay has been. I asked Chris if she had any regrets or any negatives about the job and she responded with a resounding No!. On reflection she did admit she regretted the job was only one month long and the negatives were parting company with our new friends. To be truthful, I have the same feelings. Here are our reasons:

1. None of the work was onerous nor difficult. Let's face it, you volunteer for the job to sell firewood, clean fire rings and answer campers' questions. In return the state gives you a premium site to park in with all utilities, more than adequate time off and the bonus: lots of gas powered toys er, tools, to play, er, work with. The capper is they give you a vest and hat to wear AND a neat (read that fast!) golf cart to drive around in. The kid in me is still giggling and I can't wait to go back to work each day.

2. Our co-workers: Mike and Carol and Mike and Terri (yea, it was a bit confusing at times). Both couples have way more experience than we did. I'm not quite sure they realize just how much information and wisdom they passed along to us newbees nor how much we really appreciated what gems they were.
   
3. Stephanie, our pet ranger (just kidding, she was our boss and the volunteer coordinator for the park). Made the job fun and funny. She and the other rangers trusted us to do our jobs and while they had a lot on their own plates, they were always there to ensure we had what we needed.

Notice how I haven't mentioned the scenery or the stuff to do? There was plenty of it but it is really the people you meet and work with who make the difference. The walks on the beach were just icing on the cake.

Seems I'm forgetting something – Oh yea, our wonderfully entertaining campers! If you look back on our previous blog posts I believe I've mentioned some of the shows we've seen when campers show up at a park and when they leave. As the hosts we had front row seats and I believe the only time the show slowed down was between midnight and 7am.

Did you know, if a soccer ball is kicked into a neighboring campfire it will send up sparks that twinkle in the dusk light? Even more so when the ball blows up. I'm not quite sure the screams were all in delight of the sparkly exhibition.

Throwing crab shells into your campfire is perhaps not a really good idea – especially when you have a window open in your rig – and the smoke is blowing in that direction. Another not so good idea is to dump water on the fire to stop the smoke blowing in. Did you know steam from a dampened fire behaves just like the smoke did and burnt crustacean shells really do smell worse when combined with steam?

Did you know firewood tends to not burn well if left out in the rain. Sorry, no refunds for faulty firewood.

Leaving your chips, cookies, snacks or for that matter any food out on a table or leaving your cooler top unfastened is really an open invitation for the campground raccoons. No, the park host is not responsible for lost food items or disturbed camp sites and no, we can not prosecute or arrest a raccoon. (To the one visitor from back east: No, we REALLY do not simply let the critters out of cages for the campers' benefit. They REALLY are wild and run free).

This final week was also Thanksgiving. Chris and I want to voice our thanks for just being able to do this thing called RV'ing. A special thanks for my sister and brother-in-law who drove 10 hours to spend Thanksgiving day with us and who got to share a bit of the entertainment.

Safe travels; we'll see you at our next stop: Cape Blanco.

Tourists and Crashes

Coming to you live from Florence Oregon.

Okay, not so much live. We've been touring and playing so there have been some delays in getting this posted up. Today is actually going to be a traveling day as we head off east to Coburg to see the motor home doctor and get a check up. Nothing wrong, just some minor tweeks and fixes before the 1 year warranty is out. Our goal is to have this rig in A-1 working condition before tackling the rockies and our hosting gig at altitude. In the meantime, we enjoy the old forest growth and a quiet, private parking spot at the South Jetty RV park. (Good grief, I'm sounding like a travelogue!)

Not all fun and games though. Yesterday was a total wake-up call when on our way to Coos Bay to check out a potential camp host job this fall, we observed the aftermath of what happens when a class A motorhome gets slightly off the road and into a soft shoulder. The victim, a beige Sunova whose driver made a valiant and ultimately successful stop without any obvious injuries and the rig still upright, straddling a ditch. The motorhome didn't fair as well having suffered a broken front spindle (axle?, whatever, the tire shouldn't point 90 degrees out) on the driver's side and some serious fiberglass damage all along the driver's side basement. No idea of the passenger side as it was flush into the hillside. What's the phrase; “There but for the grace of God go I”?

No idea what caused the accident but once in the soft, sandy shoulder there's not much else to do other than ride it out as best you can. You know the phrase, all seats and tray tables to remain in the upright and locked position until the vehicle comes to a complete stop.

Old Florence is a bit like Newport but without the heavy fisheries processing. The boat harbor is much smaller, and less commercial with a good mixing of sail and motor boats. The main street is filled with small shops tailored for the tourist and take up the older buildings making the three block walk a feast for the eyes as well as for the being with some nice restaurants thrown into the mix.

Since we're on the tail end of that rainy storm the breeze was more like a darn good wind whipping down the street combating the warm sun; encouraging stops at the fresh roaster coffee shops and unfortunately, avoidance of the decadent double bitter chocolate ice cream cones. (I did manage to get one before we left and oh my, imagine a double chocolate truffle fudge with bitter chocolate chips.)

We ended up in Florence for two reasons.

First was to try a place we haven't been to before and second is its proximity to what could be our November/December camp hosting gig near Coos Bay. I took a panorama shot of Sunset Bay which is just outside the main gate to the park. With the fog rolling in from the sea this place was simply mystical and I'm sure my lousy photography can not do it justice. If they'll let us, this will be where we roast a turkey this coming fall.

As I mentioned, today is a traveling day. We've offered to make a logistics run for a fellow RV'er whom we've followed since 2012. Nothing heard yet but it would sure be a treat to actually meed RV Sue and her canine crew.