Bottoms up!

Thursday was our last bottom shift here at Cape Blanco.  Before reporting for our shift at 12:30 I finished the last of the things that needed to be done before our wheels roll Friday.....dump the black tank, put away the sewer hose, put the remaining firewood in the back of the VW, and then finish organizing the trailer.  By 9 am all that was done, and we were getting dressed for our shift.

The wind was blowing steadily at 25-30 mph when we arrived at the lighthouse.....just another normal day at the Cape, huh?  Bryan and Judy finished up the tours they were conducting, and then we took over the bottom shift once more.  Our last tour finished just at 3:15, and we were home by 3:30.........I had to take one last picture of our Lighthouse Host sign with all of the beach combing spoils we have collected over 8 weeks.......some pretty cool driftwood, rope and stuff!

We headed over to Bryan and Judy's 5th wheel around 5 pm for drinks and dinner......we haven't been able to get together too much while they have been here, but I was really glad we got to spend a few hours with them, and, of course, having Judy's wonderful enchiladas for dinner was the cap to a great evening.  Bryan and Judy cruised the Caribbean and Pacific for years in their 40+ foot sailboat, and now are cruising the USA with their 5th wheel.  They regaled us with many interesting sailing stories over the course of the evening.  We look forward to meeting up with them again on the road somewhere......we'll say our 'until next times' Friday when they come to relieve us after we serve our 'top shift'.

We were home in time to watch the end of TNF in which the Saints beat the Panthers handily 28-10, and then watched 'Bones' and 'Elementary' before heading off to bed.......Friday we will disconnect the coach and drive it over to the gate where we will park it while we work the 'top shift' once last time, then it is south and east to Sparks, NV!

Thanks for stopping by!

Top to Bottom...

A few weeks ago Paul and Nina switched a couple of shifts with us enabling us to drive up to Spokane to visit my mother.  Wednesday was the day we began to reciprocate that kindness, which meant we would work both the 'top' and 'bottom' shifts, and what a mystical feel this day had.  We arrived at the gate just before 10 am, and were up in the lighthouse by 10......we woke up to a fog, and the same condition continued as we opened for business......we could not see the greeting center from the lighthouse initially, but over the 5+ hours the fog came and went.....

 'In'

.....it rolled in and out at about the same rate as the visitors did.....in all we had about 20 people take the tour to the 'lantern room', and before we knew it we were done with our last tour about 3 pm, and home by 3:20.....about as easy as it gets.

'Out'

Whenever we get within a few days of rolling our wheels we tend to spend our time in anticipation of that day, and tend to become home bodies.  We've already done most of the packing and organizing that needs to be done on Monday, so now it is just a matter of executing our extraction from the gravitational pull of the "White Cape".

Of course, we watched game 7 of this year's installment of the World Series in which the Giants prevailed 3-2 with their ace pitcher, Madison Bumgarner, pitching 5 shutout innings to close out the game.  This was one of the truly historic performances by any pitcher ever in the World Series....he was credited with the win in three of the four games the Giants won to clinch the title.

We watched 'Survivor', and then TLE watched several recorded cooking shows before we called it a night......Friday afternoon we roll!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wonderful redundancy

It's not like Tuesday was much different from most of our days the past 10 days......the wind blew and it rained, but there is something wonderfully redundant about this weather if you like blustery, rainy weather, and we are most definitively in the "YES" column on that score. 

Tuesday began with wind and rain, but around 11:30 there was a break, and being the opportunists we are we decided to take a walk on 'south beach' and, hopefully, return to the dry, warm confines of our coach before the rain came once again.

All bundled up against the weather

We decided to walk southward into the SE wind and, therefore, have the wind at our backs for our return.  We noticed a lot of the large driftwood logs had been pushed further up the beach towards the bluffs, so the waves and tide the night before must have been something to behold.  The beach itself was just this smooth (see above) as far as the eye could see.

Sure enough, just as we reached the road to begin our climb back to the campground it began to sprinkle, and just after we closed the door to our coach it began to rain again with some urgency.  We had left the two electric heaters on when we left for our walk, but had to turn them off for about an hour after returning as we were all heated up from that 1/4 mile climb up from the beach.

We spent the rest of the day listening to the ubiquitous rain on the roof, reading, napping and basically just enjoying being in the moment.

At 5 I turned on game six of the World Series which saw the Royals even the series at 3 games a piece by defeating the Giants 10-0!  I don't really have a 'dog in this hunt', but who doesn't love a 'game 7'?  One way, or another this series will be decided Wednesday evening!

Thanks for stopping by!

First Saturday - Last things

Monday we officially said "until next time" to Paul, Nina and Polly who rolled their wheels for the first time in two months about mid morning for points north.....you all will be missed....hope to hook up with you in a few weeks!

It was a beautiful day for driving, and the perfect day for packing up to leave.....unfortunately it appears that will be the last dry day this week.......

......as a result of the weather forecast (and don't I hope it is a little bit wrong!) I began packing up for our Friday afternoon departure on Monday.  There is nothing I dislike more than leaving a campsite in the rain, but there is no point in waiting another day, or two when the forecast shows rain for the next 10 days!

By 11:30 I had done quite a bit of work outside (with TLE's help) in putting away the outside stuff, and had done a lot inside the trailer to get it ready to receive the VW on Friday, so we decided to drive north to Bandon one more time for a few 'last things'.  One of the 'last things' for us was to have lunch at Tony's Crab Shack (fish tacos for moi, and crab cakes for TLE).....these fish tacos with a little 'Slap Ya Mama' sprinkled on  for good measure will make you weak in the knees.

Fish tacos with 'Slap Ya Mama' hot sauce....OMG!

 One last view of the Coquille River Lighthouse

After lunch we walked around town visiting a few of the shops before heading back to the car and drive just up the street to 'Face Rock Creamery' for some more of their wonderful ice cream.

You know how back in your workaday life when you were on vacation and you always wished you had a few more days to revisit all your favorite places, but there just wasn't time?  Living for 2 months in one place is one of the benefits of the nomadic lifestyle, and gives you all the time in the world to visit, and revisit your favorite spots as oft as you wish.....and that is what we did this day.  After our ice cream fix we headed for Ray's Food Place to stock up on a few items, and then began our trek back south to the Cape, but not before stopping one 'last time' at our favorite junk shop.  There was nothing this day that we could not live without, but it was cool to walk down the isles looking at their junk.  Next up we stopped at the Langlois Market to buy the rest of their Samuel Adams 22 oz. Organic Chocolate Stout.

We were back by 4 pm, and whist TLE put away our spoils from Ray's Food Place I headed back out to the trailer to continue putting stuff away, and by 5:30 it was pretty much ready to receive the VW on Friday.

Of course, it was Monday and means MNF (Monday Night Football) and on this particular evening MNF pitted the Washington Red Skins against the Dallas Cowboys.  It was a very close game, and actually went to overtime with both teams tied at 20-20......the Redskins prevailed, in the end, 23-20.  The game could have gone either way.....condolences to my numerous Dallas Cowboy friends.

We spent the rest of the evening watching Scorpion, NCIS L.A., and then Castle before heading to bed just before midnight......another day lived well with no regrets.

Thanks for stopping by!

And then there were two.....

6 Amigos

On September 3rd we were 'six', and then on October 1st we were 'four', and as of the 26th we are 'two'.  Sunday morning was the last shift for Paul and Nina, and when we relieved them at 12:30 their tour of duty at Cape Blanco Lighthouse was complete for this season........then we were 2.

Then we were 4

The last two standing

On one hand it 'feels' like we have been at Cape Blanco for months and months, and then again it seems as if it was only a week, or two ago that we arrived.  As is often the case in the nomadic lifestyle you find yourself saying 'until next time' on a semi regular basis.  Our time spent here with long time friends Chris and Cherie, and getting to know Paul, Nina and Polly has been very special, and will continue to be at the forefront of our memories for a long time to come.  We are so grateful to have had this opportunity to volunteer for two months here at the Cape, and for wonderful opportunity to have experienced the rugged beauty of this area.  

Sunday was the diametric opposite of Saturday.......sunny, warm, and relatively windless here at the Cape.  As I previously mentioned, we relieved Paul and Nina at 12:30 for our 'bottom shift'.  Up to 12:30 they had about 18 people visit the lantern room, and we probably had another 20+ in the afternoon.....just enough to keep us busy.  The views were spectacular and I just had to take one more big panorama shot taking in the Port Orford Heads down towards Bandon.

Monday will be another 'dry' day, and I will probably spend the better part of the day getting the trailer packed up for departure Friday afternoon as it is supposed to rain Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

There was a lot of great televised NFL games Sunday, and first up was the Atlanta Falcons vs. Detroit Lions playing in London, England which must have started around 5:30 am PST, and the day ended around 9 pm with the end of the Greenbay Packers vs. New Orleans Saints.  

For dinner we had some really good lasagna and I opened up an interesting beer left by Krash and Karen called Tres Blueberry Stout (Dark Horse Brewing, Marshall, Michigan)......wow, what a pleasant surprise!  Thank you Krash and Karen!

Our time is short here at the Cape......only a few more sunsets, a few more walks on the beach, and 3 more shifts until we roll the wheels south!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cat 1?

According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale we experienced Category 1 winds on Saturday here at Cape Blanco (sustained winds of 74-95 mph).  Based on the anemometer website for Cape Blanco that is what we had for an hour, or so, in the early morning hours.

The high winds combined with, at times, torrential rain made for one scary time, but by 11:30 the winds began to subside, although they remained in the 'gale force' (39-54 mph) category for much of the afternoon.  Two of our wheel covers came off, so I took off the remaining two and put all four in the trailer along with our awning mat, which was taking on the appearance of a sail.  Thankfully we are somewhat sheltered here in the trees and did not take the full brunt of mother nature, but it was certainly enough....thank you very much!  I now have, maybe, an inkling of what being in a hurricane might sound like.

I also had to crank down our satellite dish as I was concerned the high winds might damage it, but was finally able to re-deploy it around 11:30 in time to watch the end of the early college football games.

As it turned out, and as I predicted in yesterday's blog, the lighthouse was kept closed to tours all day as it was just too dangerous out on the bare naked Cape.  We pretty much stayed inside the rest of the day running the heaters, reading, and watching a lot of college football.  Most of the games were pretty one sided, but the Ole Miss vs. LSU game came right down to the wire with LSU upsetting previously unbeaten # 3 Ole Miss 10-7!

Around 5 pm we ventured over to Paul and Nina's for 'Happy Hour', and were joined by Brian.  We sat talking about the day's events, and about.......you guessed it.....the lighthouse.  Paul and Nina will be departing, weather permitting, Monday, and that will leave TLE, moi, Bryan and Judy to finish out the remaining three shifts.  Our time is short, and soon it will be time to say more 'until next times'.

In game 4 of the World Series the Giants out slugged the Royals winning 11-4......

Thanks for stopping by!

The countdown has begun......

As I sit here at the keyboard the howling winds are gusting to 78 mph.....the coach is being buffeted side to side, and occasionally it feels as if we are in the throws of a 7.1 earthquake of sustained duration.   I had to go outside around 5:45 am and lower the driver's side window awnings to prevent them from being damaged.  I guess this is just a 'peek' for us at what it must be like to live here on the Cape during the winter......OMG.......just had a gust at 94 mph!  I'm pretty sure the lighthouse will not be opening for business today.

As the title would suggest, we are in the final 10 days of our stay here.  We will serve our last shift at the lighthouse (barring overly windy conditions) on October 31st, and roll our wheels south and east on November 1st, arriving in the Reno, NV area sometime in the early afternoon on the 2nd.

Our Friday 'top shift' began with almost no wind, and a lot of rain.  In all we entertained 13 visitors to the 'lantern room' before Bryan relieved us at 12:30.

A few days ago we ordered several items from Amazon.com using our 'Prime" account, and I was getting text messages all morning advising me of the shipping status........by 1 pm they all showed the status as "DELIVERED".  Within a couple of hours one of the Rangers was knocking on our door with our packages (2 bottles of 'Slap Ya' Mama' hot sauce, 2 bottles of 'Dat'l Do It' hot sauce, a pressure washer, two 2 pound bags of San Francisco Coffee beans, etc.)....all shipped via the 2 day free shipping option......ordered Wednesday morning and here Friday afternoon!  If you are not currently an Amazon Prime member you should check it out!

It stopped raining around 2:30 and we decided to take a walk down to 'south beach' around 3 before the next storm came in.  We even saw a little blue sky as we walked down to the beach......

First we walked north and then back south......all in all about 3.5 miles over 2 hours walking along one of our favorite deserted beaches ever.

We were back in time to watch the beginning of game three of this year's World Series between the Royals and Giants.....the Royals prevailed again 3-2.  We watched 'The Amazing Race', and were in bed by 10:30.

Thanks for stopping by!

Windy!

Weather Conditions for:
Wind is in the high 60's with gusts to 94 mph this morning!

Cape Blanco Coast Guard Station, OR (K92S)
Elev: 187 ft; Latitude: 42.83333; Longitude: -124.56667

Current time:	Sat, 25 Oct 8:02 am (PDT)
Most Recent Observation:	Sat, 25 Oct 7:45 am PDT (PDT)

Time Wind Wind Quality Direction Speed Control (PDT) (mph) 25 Oct 7:45 am PDT SE 75G89 25 Oct 7:30 am PDT SE 67G74 25 Oct 7:15 am PDT SE 79 25 Oct 7:00 am PDT SE 70G78 25 Oct 6:45 am PDT SE 71G94 25 Oct 6:30 am PDT SE 64G74 25 Oct 6:15 am PDT SE 67 25 Oct 6:00 am PDT SE 66G71 25 Oct 5:45 am PDT SE 68G74

Bottoming out....

First thing Thursday when I was sure the rain was gone for a while I went outside to try and figure out why the seal around the rear window was leaking.  Sometimes the cause, or source of leaks is just obvious, but often they are not, and it takes a lot of 'digging' to figure out where the leak is in relation to where the water ingresses.  In the case of the rear window the source, or cause was obvious, and I found it within seconds of climbing to the top of the small step stool.  Where the two ends of the gasket join together at the bottom of the window there was a gap.  I'm sure over 32 years that gasket has shrunk up a little, but whatever the reason is for the gap, there it was as plain as the nose on one's face.

My normal procedure is to clean the area where I think the leak is and then apply some marine grade clear caulk, but in this case everything is wet, and I am sure there is moisture remaining in the window track, so instead of applying caulk, I used 3M's 'green' masking tape which is water proof and will stay in place for months if necessary.  I will leave the tape in place and then when we get to Nevada where it is much dryer I'll pull it off and let everything dry out before applying the caulking.  Before applying the tape I wiped off the moisture and used paper towels to 'wick' out the moisture from the window track as best I could, then used TLE's hair dryer to dry the surface all the way around the window before applying the tape.  It will be raining several more times before we depart, so we'll monitor the area to see if the tape is doing its job.

Thursday we had the 'bottom shift' at the lighthouse so we arrived just after 12:30 to relieve Paul and Nina who had the 'top shift'.  In all we had 45 visitors at the Greeting Center, and 44 of them paid for, and took the tour to the top from 10 am to 3:15 pm, and even though there were not that many people it did not seem like it.  Instead of groups of 4, or 5 we had 'groups' of 1, or 2, which provided a nice flow during the afternoon, and very quickly the last few people were leaving the lighthouse, and we were closing down at 3:15.  We were home by 3:29........not too bad.

We watched TNF which pitted the Denver Broncos against the San Diego Chargers with the Broncos prevailing 35-21.  I know I have some friends who are avid Charger fans, and all I can say is "condolences" to y'all.  

The rain held off all afternoon, and into the early morning hours Friday, but as I write it has stopped for the time being.

Thanks for stopping by!

Whooooosh!

The storyline for Wednesday was the wind, with the rain taking a close second.    We had sustained winds in the high 40's, and low 50's with gusts up to 68 mph, and we garnered around 4 inches of rain.  At times the combined wind and rain noise made it difficult to hear one's self think.  As an added point of interest this was the first day since we arrived that the lighthouse was not opened due to the high winds.  

Due the aforementioned weather conditions neither of us had a desire to be outside....it was a day for reading, and watching a few movies.  Back in September I bought a few used DVD's at a junk shop in Bandon, but had yet to watch any of them.  This seemed like the perfect day to do that.  The first one up was the 1980 'Roadie' (5 stars on a scale of 1-10 on IMDB....I would give it maybe a 3....and that would be stretching it)....starring 'Meatloaf' with guest appearances by Roy Orbison, Blondie, Alice Cooper and Hank Williams, Jr.  I thought it would be more like a documentary, but it was not.....I kept waiting for some good music, but in the end it was just plain awful.  I guess, in the end, I have to admit I bought it because of the picture on the DVD case.....:-)  The second up was the 1988 comedy 'A Fish Called Wanda' (7.6 stars on a scale of 1-10) starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and John Cleese which was quite funny.  Next up was the 2003 comedy 'Bruce Almighty' (6.7 stars....I would give it closer to 8) starring Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston....another very funny movie.  For the day's finale we watched the 1979 comedy 'The In-Laws' (7.4 stars) starring Peter Faulk and Alan Arkin.....hilarious!  I know.....I know, but there are some days when watching 'mindless' movies is just the right ticket.

As is sometimes the case torrential, wind blown rain will find a way to infiltrate even the most water tight RV, and this storm was no exception.  We have learned over the years to check all the window areas periodically to see if water is getting in.....ironically, on this day, the water was getting in at a place I would have never suspected.....the rear window on the coach!  This is not a window that opens, but has a rubber gasket around it to make it water tight.  Somehow, I don't know how yet, enough water was ingressing around the seal necessitating the placement of old towels at the bottom of the window to mop it up.  Otherwise, over all we fared pretty well.

We watched the Giants vs. Royals World Series game in which the Royals bounced back from their 7-1 drubbing the night before to win over the Giants 7-1 evening up the series at 1-1.

Looks like we'll have more rain Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday......in fact, over the next 10 days there is a high probability of rain 6 of those days......looks like it's time to begin migrating southward, huh?  And here comes the rain again Friday morning just as I finish....where is that inflatable boat we haven't used for a while?

Thanks for stopping by!

The day between the storms.....

Since we had 3 days off in succession we decided, Tuesday, to drive south along the coast as far as Brookings.  We were off by 10:20 cruising south on HWY 101 along the awesome Oregon Coast.  The posted speed limit on HWY 101 is 55, which is the perfect cruising speed for enjoying the scenery.

We stopped for a few minutes at this turnout just south of Gold Beach to take some pictures of the ubiquitous 'sea stacks'.....the following picture is courtesy of The Lovely Elaine.

We arrived in Brookings just after Noon, and stopped at the local Fred Meyers Supermarket to use their bathroom, plus their parking lot is perfectly situated in the middle of town so we just left the car there and walked.  Neither of us had had  breakfast so our first order of business was to find a suitable place for lunch.  We both opened our Yelp apps on our phones and both came to the same conclusion almost immediately.....the 'Vista Pub' was .2 miles from Fred Meyers, and has a 4.5 star rating from Yelp based on 117 reviews.

Our server asked what kind of beer we liked, and we both said "dark"......she replied..."how about our 'Monstermash' draft beer from  Lompoc Brewing out of Bend, OR.....it is a 'smoked imperial chocolate stout'.......".......in unison we replied......"2 pints, please!".  We also ordered one bowl each of their beer cheese soup which comes with a strip of nicely done bacon floating in this creamy, luxurious elixir, and then split a 'Chicken Caesar Salad'.  In our books this place lives up to its 4.5 rating.

The 'beer cheese soup'

After lunch we walked around town checking out the local thrift shops which were mostly closed on this Tuesday, however, we spent a lot of time in a place called "The Market Place" and I found this cool sign I'm going to save for my friend Tom McCloud.

Looks like I'm getting ready to 'walk the plank'

We were back in the car driving back north around 2, and decided to stop at one of the numerous vista points to check out the natural bridges.

The walk down to the platform where you can easily see the two natural bridges is probably 200 yards at most, and it is well worth the stop.  Just as we were getting ready to walk back to the car I noticed an intrepid hiker had walked out on one of the bridges.......not me coach.  From a distance it looked like a person of the female variety.

 Our last stop was on the north end of Gold Beach near the Isaac Lee Patterson bridge finished and opened in 1932.......seriously, it does not look like it is 82 years old!  This is just one of many beautiful bridges on the Oregon Coast.

The drive south and north along the coast was wonderful, and was a great way to spend a day with my best friend.......

Thanks for stopping by!

Okay.....hold on tight!

Ahh yes......there they are......those famous Cape Blanco winds....

Weather Conditions for:

Cape Blanco Coast Guard Station, OR (K92S)

Elev: 187 ft; Latitude: 42.83333; Longitude: -124.56667

Current time: Wed, 22 Oct 7:22 am (PDT) Most Recent Observation: Wed, 22 Oct 7:00 am PDT (PDT) Time Wind Wind Direction Speed (PDT) (mph) 22 Oct 7:00 am PDT SE 45G55 22 Oct 6:45 am PDT SE 47G60 22 Oct 6:30 am PDT SE 44G56 22 Oct 6:15 am PDT SE 49G55 22 Oct 5:45 am PDT SE 45G54 22 Oct 5:30 am PDT SE 47G54 22 Oct 5:15 am PDT SE 44G52 22 Oct 5:00 am PDT SE 41G47 22 Oct 4:45 am PDT SE 44G52 22 Oct 4:30 am PDT SE 45G52 22 Oct 4:15 am PDT SE 46G61

During the night I felt the coach rocking and rolling periodically as a gust of wind would catch the front of the coach just so, and as I sit here typing the wind velocity seems to be increasing.......yep.....my kind of day!

Probably time to inflate the Sea Eagle.....we may have to kayak out of here.......:-)

Stay tuned for my regular blog entry about our Tuesday adventures......

Do you know what you've got?

A friend whom I have known since 7th, or 8th grade announced on Facebook yesterday that her husband of 35 years had passed.  I really don't like to think about TLE not being in my life, where she has been since I was 18 years old......that's like 47 years!!  For me there are so many positives to being 65 years old.....the list is endless, but one of the few negatives is that people who have been in your life for decades are suddenly, sometimes without warning, no longer there.  The past 33 months Elaine and I have been together pretty much 24/7 with very few exceptions.  When we were still in our workaday lives, both working full time, and were apart almost as much as we were together I still could not imagine my life without her, so you can only imagine how I feel now after spending 24/7 with her these last 33 months.  When we were courting so many years ago we talked about spending the rest of our lives together.....growing old together.  It all seemed so romantic, but also a little abstract at the time.......now we are theoretically in the 'end game' of those dreams.  Once in a while when I lie awake in the early morning hours I have to admit to myself that my time with my best friend, my lover, the mother of our 5 children......is finite.  I wonder if when that time comes will I handle it with the same grace and dignity that my friend has shown.....I hope so.....I pray so.

I say all that to say this.......please, please, please cherish every moment with your spouse, partner, family, friends...........starting right now, right this minute.  Don't let bad feelings linger......don't argue about stupid stuff.  Behave as if there is no tomorrow, because, really, you do not know.  None of us knows if there will be a 'tomorrow'......there is only 'now'.....

........'now' I cannot imagine walking along a deserted storm ravaged beach without TLE walking ahead of me looking for a sea shell, or a piece of interesting driftwood......'now' I cannot imagine reaching out in the middle of the night and not being able to touch her......'now' I cannot imagine not hearing her infectious laugh, or seeing her amazing smile every single day.

As we walked south along the beach Monday afternoon we could see the results of the storm the night before.  There were a number of new, large logs that had washed up on the beach overnight, and numerous, enormous piles of 'bull kelp' everywhere.......those waves must have been something else the night before!  As we walked we had to keep alert watching for possible 'sneeker' waves........exceptionally large waves that seemingly come out of no where, and catch you by surprise if you are not paying attention, and can be deadly.

Before our beach walk I took care of my semi weekly ritual of dumping the black tank, then I removed and repaired the mini blinds over the kitchen sink replacing the the draw strings which had begun to fray.  Sometime during all of that I also wiped down the VW.

After our beach walk we both spent time reading.......it's funny......we can spend 3 hours sitting in the salon reading, rarely ever speaking a word to each other, but we each know that the other is thinking about them.....we each know that the other wonders what they can do to right 'now' make the other's life better.  It's just that simple.......

Thanks for stopping by!

My kind of day.....

Back in November of 1978 we were in the middle of our first extended RV road trip when we pulled into an RV park just outside of Coos Bay, OR right on the Pacific Ocean.  It was drizzling and the wind was blowing as we parked in our assigned site.  There was something about that stormy night on the ocean that captured my imagination.  At the time we had only two children, Chris who was 6 years old, and Meredith who was a little over 5 weeks old.  Once the kids were settled down TLE and I took a walk along that storm tossed beach in a slight drizzle......we both loved it!  We still have a piece of driftwood at our 'sticks and bricks' home from that night.  Years later in 2007 we revisited that same RV park, and the magic was still there.....once again it was in November, and once again the weather was the same.

We've had a few stormy days here at Cape Blanco over the past 6 weeks, but there was something about this day that reminded me a little of that November day back in 1978.  As we drove over to the gate at 9:45 our VW was being buffeted about by the blustery winds.  

There was a lot of moisture in the air from the crashing waves down below the bluffs that was pelting the drivers side of the car as we waited for 10 am to arrive so we could open the gate and begin another day as lighthouse hosts at Cape Blanco.

As I climbed those final 11 stairs into the 'lantern room' I could see moisture on the windows, and a quite foreboding sky to the southwest.  Funny, I could have sworn that the weather guessers predicted mostly clear skies this day......I'm glad they were wrong.

We didn't have our first 3 visitors of the day until after 11 am, and I think we finished with a total of a dozen by the time our morning shift ended at 12:30 pm.....all in all a perfect morning.  I spent a lot of time just watching the angry sea pounding the sea stacks, and the wind driven mist from the crashing waves floating up and over the cliffs.

At 12:30 we hopped in the VW and headed in to Langlois to the Langlois Market to feast upon their 'world famous' hot dogs for lunch, and then do some shopping.......yes, I know, you want to know about the hot dogs......yep, they are very, very good......and his little market is a gem!  It is a hangout for the locals who come for the hot dogs, a little shopping, and to share the news of the community.  Of course, this little market also boasts that they have 200 unique craft beers, and they deliver on that score, too.

This being Sunday also meant it was a day for more NFL games.......and I spent the rest of the afternoon after our lunching/shopping excursion watching.....I watched the Kansas City Chiefs win a nail biter over the San Diego Chargers, and Peyton Manning set a new record for career touchdowns by a quarterback when he threw his 509th touchdown in the first half eclipsing Bret Favre's record of 508.....he ended evening with 510 total touchdowns, and the Broncos won over the San Francisco 49ers handily......42-17......however, I get slightly ahead of myself......

After the end of the Chargers/Chiefs game TLE and decided to take a walk on 'south beach', and what a great walk it was......

We walked down the steep paved road to the sand, and then walked north towards the lighthouse........

Chris, Cherie, Paul and Nina have all told us at one time, or another that there is a faint trail back to the top of the bluffs right near the large vertical 'sea stack'......it took us a little time, but we did find the trail, and worked our way up to to the top....

The walk along the beach was invigorating albeit chilly......we arrived back at the coach just at 5:30, and in time to watch the Bronco/49er game.

Another splendiforous day living on the Oregon coast........thanks for stopping by!

Cool....WOW......Amazing!

Picture courtesy Wikimedia Commons

If I had a nickle for every time I have heard those words spoken by those visiting the 'lantern room' here at the Cape Blanco Lighthouse in the last 6 weeks I would be one rich guy!  I was thinking back to the first time I climbed those last 11 steps on the ladder into the 'lantern room' and I'm pretty sure at least one of those exclamatory words, if not all three, escaped my lips when I first laid eyes on that 78 year old 'girl' known formally as the Second Order Fresnel lens.

Picture courtesy Anni Jones Photography

When we first committed to spend two months here as volunteers I wondered if the 'job' would become passe after a few weeks, but quite the opposite has occurred.  With many jobs that is often the case, but after 6 weeks I still look forward to taking my position in the 'lantern room', and hearing those words spoken by new visitors.

Sometimes on clear, sunny days like Saturday when I stand in the 'lantern room' looking out towards Cape Blanco Reef I try to imagine a stormy night when the howling wind drowns out the spoken word, and wind driven rain is lashing the 'lantern room' windows trying to get at the light that warns mariners of impending doom if they dare come too close.  It is hard for me to comprehend spending two nights out of every three on the 'watch level' as James Langlois did for 42 years.....especially those long winter nights in late December when the inky darkness enveloped the Cape for a majority of the 24 hours each day.  I wonder what he did to pass the time.....I wonder if he ever wished he were somewhere else, doing something else.  When you think about it, how many days in your life have you been awake to watch the sun come up in the eastern sky?  These guys spent two thirds of their life for decades waiting for that first glimpse of daylight, wondering if before the sun chased away the dark they would witness a ship flounder on the reef.  I wonder what is was like to spend decades of your life living in a virtual wind tunnel day after day.....where days without wind were the exception.....I wonder......would I have stuck with it for 42 years?

I have this feeling that they enjoyed looking upon the Fresnel lens each evening.....gently and lovingly wiping the soot from her prisms each day so she would be at her best each evening when the dark banished the light from the sky once again.......so her light could be focused, and pushed far enough off shore to keep ships passing in the night safe from the hungry clutches of the reef.

There is something about the wind swept terrain, the roaring seas, the rock stacks in the ocean, the ever present wind, the long, large views, the Fresnel lens that lights up for 1.8 seconds at a time, and seemingly disappears for 18.2 seconds minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day.  It captures your imagination, and claims a piece of you forever.  You know you will return again next Fall, because this place is now, and forever, a part of you.

Thank you for stopping by!

Slug like.....

We woke up Friday to wind and rain, and that is pretty much what we got all day.  Fortunately, Friday was not a work day, so we just stayed inside enjoying the weather from the confines of our warm, dry, comfortable Newell.  I don't think I went outside until early evening to get a beer from the Norcold refrigerator in the basement to have with the hard shell tacos TLE so graciously made for me.....what a woman!  

For those who may not know, we have to refrigerators on board the Newell.....a Dometic electric/gas refrigerator/freezer inside, and the 12 volt Norcold basement refrigerator pictured below.  We keep most of our beverages in the Norcold to make more room in the inside Dometic for food.  This arrangement is very helpful in the summer months when it is warmer as we can avoid opening the door of the Dometic absorption refrigerator.  As most of you know, from experience, these absorption refrigerators work great when the outdoor temp is under 90 degrees, and above 40 degrees, and get harder to keep cold when it gets over 90 degrees for several days in succession.  The less we have to open the Dometic up during the day the better.

Norcold basement 'refer'

We both spent the day reading......and speaking of reading, I am thoroughly enjoying the multitudinous westerns written by Elmore Leonard.....thank you to all who recommended his works.  I have been watching the TV serious entitled 'Justified' for a few years now which is about a modern day, mythical U.S. Marshall named Raylan Givens set in the Kentucky hill country.  I didn't realize until this season that 'Justified' was based on a series of books written by Elmore Leonard.  So far I have read a compilation book of a lot of his western short stories, and a couple of his full length books.  The number of his books that have been made into movies is startling, so it is no surprise, I guess, that 'Justified' has been so successful, too.

Exactly two weeks from Saturday we will be rolling our wheels once again as we head to our Amazon job in Nevada.  The last six weeks have flown by with mostly pretty good weather, but the forecast for the next 10 days looks like rain will be visiting us every few days.

We spent the evening watching 'The Amazing Race' and a few recorded 'Frasers' then it was off to bed with smiles on our faces.

Thanks for stopping by!

My Cape Blanco......

Sometimes pictures are really worth thousands of words......

A 30 second video of the Fresnel order 2 lens

Okay.....the details of Thursday......we worked the 'top' shift at the lighthouse.......we entertained about 30 visitors in that shift..........we had lunch back at the coach after work.......I doodled around in the trailer for an hour........we read.......I took a nap......I watched TNF (Thursday Night Football)......I watched the Giants win over the Cardinals to make it to the World Series once again......we watched 'Bones'......we went to bed.

Thanks for stopping by!