The view from #10......

7:54 am - Monday - November 30th - Seal Rock, OR - 50° F, 82% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the west.....heavy cloud cover today with a forecast of more rain this morning, sun later, and a high of 51° F.  Began raining last night around 1:30 am, and continued until about 30 minutes ago.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were at the Mission Inn in Riverside to see their Christmas light display........↴

Sunday was a beautiful day in Seal Rock, OR....the sun shown all day long, the air was crisp, and the views stunning.....

The view of Seal Rock from site #10

.....I spent about an hour working with Terry to put up the park office Christmas lights, and then the final hour of my two hour shift cleaning the sites of twelve departing customers.....we were close to 100% full over the Thanksgiving weekend.

I was home a little after 12 pm.....TLE still had two more hours to go before her two hour shift began at 2 pm.  It had been a couple of weeks since I last washed the sea salt off the exterior of the Newell and trailer, so after changing clothes I set out to accomplish that task.  It takes about an hour to spray them down, then scrub the sides with an RV mop, then rinse.  A nice, sunny, albeit cold day, is the perfect time to dispose of this necessary task.  I also took time to flush both the big rear facing radiator, and the Kohler genset radiator with fresh water to rinse away any salt build up.  Living next to the ocean as we are adds a whole set of new tasks which must be performed on a regular basis to prevent corrosion.  I can see how living in this environment year after year would take a toll on one's RV, and related equipment if one were not diligent.

There was a lot of reading on my part Sunday afternoon, which continued into early evening.  The wind began to rise around 5 pm, as expected, so I shortened the flagpole to reduce the strain imposed upon it by 15 mph winds out of the south by southwest, however, it never got windy enough to take the flagpole completely down, or stow the patio awning.  No doubt the wind was the precursor of the aforementioned rain during the early 'am' hours of Monday.

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Old School......

 7:45 am - Sunday - November 29th - Seal Rock, OR - 37° F, 93% humidity, wind 9 mph out of the east.....clear, very cold, blue skies today with a forecast high of 53° F.....chance of rain this evening. On this date in 2012 I posted the following on Facebook......↴

.....now, on the same date 8 years later, we are just finishing 8 years and 10 months on the road and 9 years and 10 months living full time in the Newell.......that is just mind blowing!  It still feels like we have just started!

We awoke to rain Saturday morning, which has often been the case lately, but such is life on the Oregon Coast.  After two days the coach continues to be completely level just reconfirming my decision to move gravel around on Friday to make our pad more level.  

We piddled around for a few hours before getting dressed to drive into Newport to do some junking, and TLE needed to buy a new mini iPad to replace her existing one, which is around 6 years old.  We stopped in at the local Verizon store to order the new mini iPad, which took just a few minutes....they will call us when it arrives (they had none in stock).  Next up was the antique mall, where we wandered the endless aisles for about an hour looking for this and that.  One item on our 'hope to find' list was a 3 hole punch, which we have needed for a long time.  I know it's kind of 'old school', but we have several 3 ring binders in which we keep a lot of documentation for the many systems, gadgets, and appliances in our Newell.  Amazingly, I found one within just a few minutes.....in fact, I found three.....the one I bought was just $5.95, and that is exactly what we paid since there is NO sales tax in Oregon.  It is one of the many things we love about Oregon.....the price is the price.  When we dine at a restaurant the bill is always a flat dollar amount.....no cents.  We found nothing else without which we could not live another day.

Our next stop was the local Walmart to pickup a couple of additional Christmas decorations.  First we needed a tree, but did not want to cram up our center console with an actual mini tree, so we bought one made of lights to hang in our window.....

.....and we always hang something Christmacy on the trailer....it used to be a candy cane, but after 6 years it ceased functioning, so we got a Santa to hang on the trailer.......perfect........

.....all of the other Christmas lights are already deployed, so we are now set for Christmas decorations wise.

We were back home by 2 pm, and settled in to watch a few college football games.  While it had stopped raining in Newport well before we headed home, it continued raining in Seal Rock for another 2 hours before finally abating.

And thus another week on the shores of the Pacific Ocean comes to an end....in just a couple of days it will be December, and the countdown to our flight home for Christmas with our kids begins.....YAY for us!

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The major award, redux.......

 8:48 am - Saturday - November 28th - Seal Rock, OR - 43° F, 93% humidity (how can that be.....it's raining), wind 3 mph out of the east.....heavy cloud cover, drizzling, with a forecast high today of 51° F.  On this date in 2012 I wrote the following missive and posted it to my blog:

TITLE: The Major Award

"No doubt if you have watched "A Christmas Story" a few times you will remember the iconic "Major Award" scene where Darren McGavin's character (The Old Man) won the "Leg Lamp", and how he proudly placed it on a table in front of a large bay window and then turned it on so passers by could share in his joy.  Well Tuesday night Amazon had a contest for the picking crew.  The top 20 work Camper Force pickers would have their names put in a hat and the winners would get a $5 gift card.  Usually TLE is a winner in these contests in our family, however, for one brief shinning moment I was top dog in the Hockwald picking world......I won a $5 Kroger gift card!  I must take time to thank all those in my life who made this moment possible, but I can't remember all their names right now.....:D  My "Major Award" is not nearly as glamorous, or memorable, or even worthy of being displayed on a table in front of a bay window for all passers by to see, but it is MY MAJOR AWARD!  On a side note.....did you know there is a website dedicated to selling this leg lamp?  It's called "A Christmas Story House Gift Shop"!

After being honored in front of a few hundred of my closest picking friends we headed off to HRV for the night......well, TLE did....after my brief moment in the sun I headed over to P-1-A-109-A-2 to make my first pick.....how could I, the "Major Award" winner, be banished so quickly to Pic Mod A you ask?  I don't know, but the picking gods quickly rectified this grievous error and within a few totes I was notified via a message on my scanner that my superior picking skills were required in the HRV Pic Mod.  

Our evening at Amazon went quickly as it always does when we are stationed in HRV, but there will be no major awards this night.  We work as a team and all get the glory when things go well, and I think they went very well last night.  One notable fact from last night is that I set off the security alarm on the second level TWICE.....how quickly the Major Award winners fall!!!  I guess my mind was still on my Major Award......lol!

The outside temps dropped, again, into the mid 20's so our walk home was fast paced.  Three more days in this work week and then we only have 15 days of labor left before we begin our trek south to Florida.  I wonder if anyone there will care about my Major Award?  Probably not, but I can dream, can't I?"

I was so tickled by what I wrote that I had to repost it.....hope you enjoyed it as much as I.  HRV stands for 'High Retail Value", or, in other words, jewelry.  Only a very few people were cleared to work in that area, and TLE and I were part of that team our first 'Peak Season' at Amazon.  

As I wrote a couple of days it is time to renew my blood pressure prescription, so I transferred it from COSTCO where it has been for a couple years to the local pharmacy in Waldport (Hi-School Pharmacy).  I received an email Thanksgiving day that the transfer had been completed, and my refill was ready for retrieval, so around 2:30 pm we drove into town to do just that.

Friday was a very nice day, and after picking up my prescription we walked across the street to get a cup of coffee from Espresso 101.  After placing our orders we sat down at the outdoor seating area........

......we did just this a few weeks ago, however, as we were to find out within a few minutes, due to the new 'lockdown' orders by the totalitarian Oregon Governor, Kate Brown, we were not allowed to sit there to wait, or consume our orders.  Mind you, there was no one else there, and we were outdoors in a very rural, remote area of the Oregon Coast.  There is just no accounting for the stupidity of the ruling class, whom we see on almost a daily basis violating their own non-scientific orders.  Hmmmm.....a little ranting makes one feel a little better.....lol.

Not to be deterred, we paid for our coffees and drove 1 block over to the city park where there are several picnic tables with a much better view of the water.  Apparently the city park is a virus free safe zone whose 'force field' cannot be penetrated by the Wuhan Virus....... 

Alsea Bay Bridge

There is an extraordinary amount of volcanic rock along this stretch of the Oregon Coast

....we found several tables free, but decided to walk down the stairs to the beach and sat on a volcanic rock enjoying the Alsea Bay ambiance.   We didn't get back home until after 3:30 pm, which is just over an hour before sunset.  Within a few minutes I had started a fire in our portable firepit, pulled a couple of camp chairs out the trailer, and we were set to watch the sun finish its inevitable descent to the western horizon once again.....

......the wood was a little damp from several days of rain, but eventually we got it going, and enjoyed about an hour talking and enjoying the early evening air.....

....and thus another delightful day on the Oregon Coast comes to a close.  

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On the level......

 8:49 am - Friday - November 27th - Seal Rock, OR - 41° F, 87% humidity, wind 13 mph out of the east....clear, cold, blue skies this morning with a forecast high today of 52° F.  The view this morning......↴

.....on this date in 2016 we had dinner with my brother Philip, and his wife Jeannie at Pomona Valley Mining Company......what a view!.......↴

Since Thursday was Thanksgiving I only worked about an hour, while TLE completed her 2 hour stint in the office.  I cleaned a couple of sites for customers arriving later in the day, hauled some trash to the dumpster, checked the trash at the rental houses up the hill, cleaned up the grass in our site with one of the Stihl string trimmers, and called it a day.

Ever since we arrived at Seal Rock I have been a little less than happy with how I positioned the Newell in our site.  Specifically, I wished I had parked about 2 feet further forward, as the rear wheels ended up on a slight downslope, meaning the front end was high.  In order to level the coach we had to completely lower the front end as far as it would go, and raise the rear end as far as it would go putting the air suspension system  at its extremes.  Additionally, this site is slightly off from side to side, meaning it is slightly high on the passenger side, so to level from side to side the system is put at further extremes.  As a result, while we were able to level it, it never stayed level for very long.  I've been thinking about how to solve this problem, including moving the trailer forward about two feet, but that would be rather involved since I had to jack up the passenger side of trailer and place two lengths of 4" x 4" wood under those wheels to level it.  I would have to reverse that process to move it, and then jack it up again.....you see what I'm getting at.  So what to do?  There is around a 3 foot gap between the front of the Newell, and the rear of the trailer.  Short of moving the trailer I decided to fire up the big Detroit Diesel 6v92, move the coach forward as far as I could without hitting the trailer, and then move gravel to the area where the rear wheels had been to raise that area, then dig small trenches where the front wheels reside when the coach is moved back into position.  I figured I would do just enough to get the coach level from front to back, and then we would only have to worry about leveling from side to side.

I carry a 'square point' shovel with me for just such tasks as this, so after TLE helped me move the Newell forward I got to work raising the gravel pad in the rear of the side up a few inches, and then digging 3" deep trenches in front.  All this took me about an hour, but by the time I was done, and had moved the Newell back into position the Newell was perfectly level from front to back!  I love it when a plan comes together!  All we had to do, as I had hoped, was to level from side to side and we were good to go.......

The rear pad raised about 3".....

....and the front pad lowered about 3".....perfect!

......while I was so occupied TLE was busy in the Newell kitchen preparing our Thanksgiving meal.  We were not planning to eat our Thanksgiving dinner until around 6 pm, so about 3 pm TLE and I took a break from our activities and partook of a charcuterie spread for a mid afternoon snack, which included martinis for each of us......

.....there were three kinds of olives, some taco chips TLE made from scratch, some smoked salmon, some pico de gallo, and some cheese.....a perfect pre-Thanksgiving dinner snack!

By 6 pm TLE had placed her Thanksgiving offerings on our dinner table.......

Dessert

Turkey, stuffing, creamed broccoli, gravy, cranberry sauce, and some Prosecco

.....I am always blown away with what TLE can produce in such a small kitchen, and this meal was no exception.  I was nice to sit talking, listening to music, and just being thankful for who we are, where we are, and what we do.  So, here we are on Thanksgiving 2020 continuing to live the vagabond life.  We have an uninterrupted view of the ocean with its sounds permeating every nook and cranny of our lives.....life is good!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Will it rain, or will I work?

 8:07 am - Thursday (Thanksgiving) - November 26th - Seal Rock, OR - 43° F, 100% humidity, wind - CALM......cloudy today with a forecast high of 53° F. On this date in 2010 TLE and I were riding our Cannondale Tandem on Chino Hills Parkway in Chino Hills, CA.......↴

.....and on this same date in 2013 I rode my bicycle to the top of Mt. Rubidoux in Riverside, CA.....↴

At 9 am it was raining quite hard, and it did not look as if I would be working Wednesday, but a Thanksgiving Eve miracle occurred.....it quit raining, and by 10 am the sun had come out briefly, so it was off to work for me.....TLE works rain, or shine....lol!

I continued working with Blake mowing and edging sites 14-23.....while I was in site 14 I took these pictures of the raging surf......

Even though it was in the low 50's I took off my jacket and worked in short sleeves

......I actually worked a little over 2 hours....my longest workday this week!  I was home just before 12:20 pm, and fixing the drivers side door pull on the VW, of course.  You will recall that the original door pull (plastic) broke a few weeks ago, so while I ordered the replacement aftermarket door pulls for both doors I used superglue to fix it temporarily.  I assumed it would break again pretty quickly, but it lasted three weeks.  It was just a matter of attaching the new machined aluminum door pull with two stainless steel bolts.....took about 10 minutes......

.....and now it is good for a long time.  I'll work on replacing the passenger side door pull when we get a sunny day in the next week.

After fixing the door pull I drove into town to get my prescription for my blood pressure medication transferred from the COSCTO in Wenatchee, WA where I last had it filled.  There is a pharmacy in Waldport called Hi-School Pharmacy which will take care of getting the paperwork transferred for my next refill next week.  I was back home within 40 minutes, just before it began raining again....it only rained for about 30 minutes, and then the sun came out again.

I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing my special Thanksgiving blog post, which I had begun that morning.  Frankly, I was a little taken aback by how much we did this summer, and how many friends with whom we spent time.  As Ferris Bueller famously said....."Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it".....ain't that the truth.......that's my 2¢, and I'm sticking to it!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

On Thanksgiving Eve I am very thankful.....

 8:10 am - Wednesday - November 25th - Seal Rock, OR - 46° F, 87% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the west by southwest......cloudy, raining.....rain is forecast for the rest of today with a high of 50° F.  We have reached the Eve of Thanksgiving one more time.  Where has the time gone?  It seems we just arrived here at Seal Rock a couple of weeks ago, but is has been over 70 days since September 15th.  As I have often remarked to friends  as you enter you 8th decade of life time goes fast whether, or not your are having fun.  I, like most people, prefer the 'having fun' option, and it has been nothing but fun since we arrived here in Seal Rock for our 6 month stint on the Oregon Coast.

So, on this Thanksgiving Eve day in the 8th month of the Wuhan Flu, for what am I thankful?  I am thankful we were blessed this year to spend the month of February boondocking outside of Borrego Springs, CA in the Anza Borrego Desert....one of our all time favorite boondocking sites......

......I am thankful for the two months we spent with very good friends Tom and Darlene on their property in Wittmann, AZ while we figured out what was going on with the Wuhan Flu.....

Helping Tom and Darlene install a sign post

.....for the second year in succession we were unable to travel to Alaska....this time because of the Wuhan Flu, however, that opened up other travel opportunities, and time spent helping Glenn and Laureen with their 1984 Newell Classic, and traveling with them.......

Shared many meals with Glenn and Laureen

...and worked endless hours on their 1984 Newell Classic

.....Glenn and Laureen arrived in Wittmann the second week in April, and during the next 3 weeks we installed their solar system, replaced all of their airbags, replaced all of their batteries, fixed numerous electrical issues, removed their defunct alternator, got it rebuilt, and reinstalled it.  There were many, many other things on which we worked.  Finally, as the Arizona temperatures were edging past triple digits we hauled our collective anchors and headed first for Flagstaff where it was in the 70's and 80's at 7,000+ feet elevation.

We spent the next 4, or 5 weeks traveling with Glenn and Laureen spending time in Page, AZ, then Goosenecks State Park where we boondocked for 5 days.  From there we headed to Bluff, UT and visited the just reopened Natural Bridges National Monument, and other local attractions. Then it was on to Durango, CO for a few days, then north on the Million Dollar Highway to Ridgeway, CO where we made day trips to Telluride,  Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the Tetons, Henry's Lake, Meeker, CO, Dinosaur National Monument, etc., finally bidding them adieu near West Yellowstone......

Flagstaff, AZ

Elks Lodge - Page, AZ

Horseshoe Bend near Page, AZ

Glenn Canyon Dam near Page, AZ

Goosenecks State Park

Shared many meals with Glenn and Laureen....here we are at Goosenecks State Park

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Downtown Telluride, CO...we found a place to eat lunch

Rode the Hiawatha Trail on our eBikes

Hooked up with George and Brenda (college friends) at Priest Lake, ID

Went to see the grave marker at my mother' s grave in Spokane, WA

Spent time with my sister Hilary, and husband Bob at Deer Lodge, MT

There were many micro breweries along the way, and I mean 

there were a lot (near Kalispell, MT)!!

Spent a few days at Lake Frances  near Valier, MT with Claude and Gail

Spent a few days in Harolowton, WY at the fairgrounds with Claude and Gail

Dinner at another Micro Brewery in Spearfish, SD with Claude and Gail

....we spent several weeks traveling with Claude and Gail to Driggs, ID where we boondocked on the shores of the Teton River, then on the shores of Henry's Lake at a free county campground, Devil's Tower, WY, Keystone, SD, Spearfish, SD, Harlowton, WY, Lake Frances and other places......

Two weeks in Keystone, SD near Mt. Rushmore

Watched fireworks over Mt. Rushmore

Riding our eBikes with Rich and Marnie

Eating out in Keystone, SD with Rich and Marnie

With a view of Mt. Rushmore

Hiking with Rich and Marnie

Visited Devil's tower with Claude and Gail

Telluride, CO

Elks Lodge in Grand Junction, CO

Finally eating at a restaurant in Grand Junction, CO

On the shores of the White River in Meeker, CO

Dinner with long time friends Lisa and John, and one of their daughters in Meeker, CO

Hiking around Devil's Tower

Fireworks on 4th of July in Keystone, SD

Elks Lodge, Coeur d'Alene, ID

Hooked up with our good buddy Art in Yellowstone and did some hiking

Sightseeing in Yellowstone with Claude and Gail

Dry camping on the Yellowstone River with Claude and Gail, and soaking in the Yellowstone Hot Springs

Got to hook up for lunch with 'Dodge' (Kristen Dodge) in Gardiner, MT

Camped on the shores of  Henry's Lake, ID with Claude and Gail (free)

Boondocking on the shores of the Teton River near Driggs, ID with Glenn, Laureen, Claude and Gail

Three vintage coaches....1984 Bluebird Wanderlodge, 1984 Newell and 1982 Newell

Claude's 1984 Bluebird Wanderlodge

....with a view of the Tetons

Lunch in Dinosaur National Monument

Spent 3 weeks new Coupeville, WA on Whidbey Island with long, long time friends Bob and Karen on their property overlooking Admiralty Way, and Oak Harbor

I flew our drone a couple of times over our Coupeville location

While we were there I refinished their deck

We celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary at our favorite Oak Harbor eatery

I also trimmed the weeds from both sides of their 150 yard long driveway, and then pressure washed it

We shared many meals with Bob and Karen, and took walks around Harrington Lagoon several times a week

......we parted ways with Claude and Gail in Kalispell, MT on July 20th, and were on our own for a couple of weeks before heading to Deer Lodge, MT to hook up with my sister Hilary, and her husband Bob at their vacation home, then it was on to Couer d'Alene, ID for days before heading up to Wenatchee, WA, then on to Coupeville, WA to visit our long time wonderful friends Bob and Karen at their home where we spent 3 weeks.  We celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary with them, I refinished their patio deck, their front deck, an pressure washed their 150 yard long driveway.  From there we spent two weeks on the Olympic Peninsula on our way to our current location, Seal Rock, OR.

I mention all these people and places to remind myself how thankful I am for the friends we have, and being and being able to spend so much time with all of them this summer.  When we left Wittmann, AZ in early May I had no idea how rich, and full our summer would become sharing time with so many people who are so dear to us.  The disappointment of not being able to travel to Alaska was replaced by new adventures, and the memories will endure long into the future.

We do not know what the future holds, but we do know that friendships and family will be a large part of that experience.  All the places we have visited this summer were special, and memorable, but at the end of the day it was the people with whom we spent time that will be remembered the most.

It took me most of the day to put this post together, which is why it is so late in being published.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!