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!