Sea Level

We'll have to live with this view out our front window for 2 months

As reported in yesterday's brief blog post, we were up by 6 am and took a walk to the local Starbuck's to get coffee and a pastry.....our goal was to be on the road by 7 am, and arrive at Cape Blanco between Noon and 1 pm as our orientation was at 1:30.  While we sat sipping and savoring our coffees I attempted to write my blog using my Samsung Note 3 Droid and was mostly successful, but I forgot to "publish" it until after we had arrived at Cape Blanco.  There were numerous spelling errors, which I have since corrected.  Much to my surprise our plan worked well.......as we merged our Newell on to I-5 northbound I looked at my watch and saw it was exactly 7 am!

Our task for the day was to climb up and over Siskiyou Pass, stop at TJ's in Medford for one more wine resupply, then over Grant's Pass where we would then head west and down to sea level.

The big DD 6V92 climbed like a champ, and the engine temp never got over 198......a much different result than Tuesday when it consistently got over 200 with all the ups and down we did as we worked our way over to I-5.

We crossed into Oregon around 7:30, and were in Medford by 8:15.  We found a small vacant lot adjacent to the shopping mall where TJ's was located where we parked, and while TLE ran into TJ's I got my small ladder out and cleaned the bug slaughter from Tuesday's jaunt off the front windshield.

TLE was back from TJ's within 15 minutes and we were back on I-5 by 8:35 charging ever northward.  We began to think we would get to Cape Blanco by Noon.....at the latest.  Of course, then there is always road construction that will throw a monkey wrench into the best laid plans.  

Not too long after leaving the Interstate to merge on to SR 89 we began to hit construction zones.  I would pretty much call the entire route we took (89 to 42, and then 42-S) one long construction zone with enough stops to add an hour to our travel time......finally just past 12:30 we made our first Pacific Ocean viewing, and headed south on US 101 the last 30 miles to Cape Blanco.

Once you turn off US 101 it is another 5 miles to the Cape, and here is a picture TLE took of our first in person view of the lighthouse.....

Cape Blanco Lighthouse

We quickly found our lighthouse camphost site, backed into our very, very long space, exchanged hugs with Chris and Cherie who had just come off their first "grueling" 3 hour work day, unloaded the VW and headed over to the lighthouse arriving for our orientation just about 1:45 pm.....pretty much in that order, and that quickly!

In uniform, and at the top of the lighthouse

The view....you can see the Beetle in the parking lot!

We met our supervisor, Greg Ryder, whom we had been corresponding via e-mail, and the occasional phone call since last March, as well as Paul Novell and Nina Fussing (pronounced "foosing") who were working their first shift of their stay here.  There are three different shifts that we will work here......"top shift" (9:45 am to 1 pm); "middle shift" which is 9:45 to 4 pm; "bottom shift" (12:30 to 4 pm).  We will work one each of those shifts per week.  Our first shift will be the "bottom shift" on Thursday (today) beginning at 12:30.

Our first group selfie courtesy Cherie!  We are (clockwise) 

Cherie, Paul, Clarke, Chris, Elaine, and Nina

Our first Cape Blanco sunset

After we finished our orientation we headed back to our coach to get everything hooked up and set up.....by this time is was closing in on 5 pm, and it was also time for cocktail hour.  We all convened at Paul and Nina's coach and spent the next 2+ hours talking non-stop.  We already knew Chris and Cherie from our various meetups around the country, and really enjoyed getting to know Paul and Nina.  We are all kindred spirits, and we are looking forward to the next 2 months with a lot of excitement and anticipation.

Thanks for stopping by!