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!