Dog gone......

One thing is certain if you do enough bicycling, eventually a dog will come seemingly out of no where running at you snarling, teeth bared with saliva dripping from his hungry jaws.  Today was our day.  We had barely turned on to HWY 103 from the dirt road called Maple when out of no where a dog looking as if he had been shot from a cannon came streaking toward us.  I was gauging how many more seconds I had to live, my eyes riveted on the dog as he approached just a few feet away when suddenly a car coming from the opposite direction struck the dog just as he was beginning his leap at me........and I mean STRUCK the dog....he was there one second, and gone from sight the next.  I don't think he saw the car.  The dog was dead on impact......one second I'm wondering how bad this is going to be, and the next second I am saved by a car on a very lightly traveled road.  The dog didn't deserve that fate, and I didn't deserve to get mauled.......I am angry with a thoughtless owner who failed to keep his pit bull/boxer mix dog under control.  The result of that negligence is a dead animal, a traumatized motorist and a bicyclist who thought his number was up.  I have mixed emotions about how I was saved from certain injury, but I am grateful the dog did not finish his leap at me.

At the time of this incident Elaine and I were taking a bike ride to a local eatery about 7 miles away called Oneys Roadhouse (pronounced owneys) to have lunch.  As we rode away from the accident scene Elaine and I talked about how we were miraculously saved from certain injury in a most unexpected fashion.

Within a few minutes we reached HWY 26 (connects Portland with Seaside) which would take us another 4 miles to Oneys, and our attention was quickly taken up by hundreds of cars, trucks, RV's making their way west to Seaside.   When one car after another is flying by you on the left it kind of takes your mind off the the traumatic occurrence a few minutes before.

Bridgeport Summer Squeeze Bright Ale

We reached Oneys in about 15 minutes, and went right around to the back where the alfresco dinning was.....today was a rare sunny day with more sun than clouds, so we had to sit outside.

I quickly zeroed in on the Bacon Bleu Cheese Burger, and Elaine got a hotdog.  Both dishes were as good as we had been told they would be.....YUM!

On the way home I stopped on the bridge over the Nehalem River to snap this picture.

You can see in the background a few of the hundreds of motorists on HWY 26 today.

Antlers are ubiquitous in this part of Oregon, so I just had to snap a representative picture.  Our total ride ended up around 14 miles.....not a long ride by our standards, but a nice ride nevertheless.

That was it for today.....we took it easy the rest of the day..... and I took one of my patented afternoon naps.

Thanks for stopping by!

Black is black.....

One of my "favorite days" is the day I have to dump the BLACK TANK.   And even more fun is when I need to use the macerator pump to pump out the tank into a "cleanout" which can be anywhere from 50' to 150' away.  Well, today on the fun scale of 1-10 this was an 11.....the nearest cleanout was 200+ feet away, which meant, effectively, that I needed to move the coach closer to the end source.  On a postive note it had been 10 days since we last dumped, and we could have gone a couple more days if need be, so we really managed our waste as effectively as we could have.  I think our prior record was 12 days.

As you will recall, we had backed into the spot in our friend's driveway, but after a couple of days I really didn't like it...we had to exit a couple of feet from some bushes, and it was difficult walking around the coach.  Additionally, our back in position made it difficult to access our friend's WiFi.  Since we had to move out of our spot to dump the black tank we decided to change our position by parking head first in the driveway.  Ther are several benefits to this: 1) Now we are getting a strong WiFi signal, 2) We are not exiting the coach into a bush, 3) We can now deploy our patio awning, as well as the other awnings,  4) now I can wash the passenger side without standing in the bushes, and 5) we have more privacy from the street.

This is how we look now.  I don't know why we didn't think of this 10 days ago, but better late than ever.  This will work well for our last week here in Jewell, OR.

Yesterday while Elaine went into Cannon Beach with Cathie (our friend) I spent part of the day turning another of those square lights that utilizes a large automotive bulb into an LED light.  We needed a second light in the pantry for the bottom shelf, so I decided to surprise TLE and wired it up.  Below you can see that I am using 4 sections of strip LED lighting with 6 LED's per strip for a total of 24.  This combination matches almost exactly the light output of the one automotive bulb with a 10th of the amp consumption.

Below is the square light fixture that the 4 strips will be put in after I finish soldering the connections.

In the next picture below the light above still has an automotive bulb in it, and the light on the bottom shelf is the new LED conversion.  Needless to say, TLE was extremely happy when she returned.  Naturally this 2 hour project took me 5.....that is, after all, the Hockwald way.....lol!  Both lights are wired to come on when the pressure switch in the upper left corner of this picture is released by the opening of the left door to the pantry, and both turn off when the door is closed.

Earlier today TLE and I watched the entire Olympic Women's soccer final featuring the USA vs. Japan which was for the gold medal, and what an exciting match!  The US Women won 2-1 in a thrilling match.

Tomorrow we'll take another bike ride.....where we haven't yet decided, but you will be the first to know!

Thanks for stopping by!

A pilgrimage of sorts.....

If you were anywhere from 6 years old to 36 in 1985 and self aware you will more than likely  remember this iconic film location.  What film was this home featured in?  The answer will follow later in this post.

After a couple of days of just watching the Olympics (Sunday and Monday), and generally taking it easy we decided to do a short 100 mile loop up to Astoria on HWY 202 to HWY 30 along the Columbia River to HWY 47 and back to HWY 202.  We had the wheels of the T'Bird rolling by 10am, and enjoyed a nice drive up 202 into Astoria.....except for the 15 minute wait we had while a flat bed tow truck pulled a GMC truck back on to the road where it had gone offroad down the hillside a short distance.  Ultimately it took a second vehicle, a Ford F250 4X4 to assist the tow truck and the deed was finally done.  

 You can see the miscreant truck on the left

The traffic backup

Our first stop in Astoria was Bikes and Beyond.....a very nice local bike shop (LBS) that we had occasion to use about 4 years ago when we were up in this area with our tandem.  Driving through a parking lot in our old Class C motorhome wiith the tandem on the back the rear wheel had caught the bumper of a pickup and had been, as they say, taco'd.....it literally looked like a taco shell.  I took the rear wheel to this amazing bike shop thinking they would have to build me a new wheel, but, to my amazement, they resurrected it from near death....in fact it was truer than it had been prior to my unfortunate parking lot navigational endeavor.  Today we wanted to look at bike racks that might fit on the trunk of our car, but after trying several we determined none would work.  We agreed along with the bike guy that we need to have a class 2 receiver hitch installed on the T'Bird so we can carry the bikes using a bike rack that will slip into the receiver hitch.

As we were leaving the bike shop Elaine noticed a cool little coffee shop called Astoria Coffeehouse and Bistro right next door and we decided to get a cup and decide where to go next.  

A side note.....you have noticed by now that TLE has changed her hair length considerably.  I like it, and I know it will be much easier for her to take care of it, especially when we start our season of labor at Amazon.com in a couple of months.

TLE's new hairdo

Any way, we decided to continue east on HWY 30, and that is what we started to do when we saw the Columbia River Maritime Museum, and decided on a whim to stop and take a look.  Talk about serendipity!  We spent and hour and a half there, and loved every minute of the experience.

 Coast Guard rescue vessel in use until the 70's

 Old style fishing boat

After taking a tour of the maritime musuem ($12 per adult under 65) we again attempted to escape the vortex of Astoria and head east on HWY 30 when I saw a sign for the Rogue Public House.  We have been to the Rogue Brewery in Newport, OR a couple of times, and love their beer and food, so after looking at the time and seeing that it was after 1pm I once again decided to take advantage of serendipity.  The Rogue Public House is in an old cannery building, which houses several other eating establishments, and you must drive out to the old cannery on an old wood planked pier.....very, very cool.

That is Washington across the Columbia River

I had a pint (I was the driver this day) of Shakespear Oatmeal Stout (chased with a Kobe beef 1/2 bleu cheese burger) and TLE had a couple of pints of Chatoe Rogue Dirtoir Black Lager (chased with a Ruben).  A great lunch with great views of the Columbia River.

Now, one more time we set out to escape the gravitational pull of this cool little town when we see a sign for the "Goonies" house......Goonies was a 1985 film about young kids who discover treasure and have an unlikely adventure.  My kids love, and I use the present tense, and so do we, so how could we not go and visit this iconic house?  Surprisingly we were only two of dozens of people paying homage to this famous house on the hill.  As we walked up the short driveway we exchanged knowing glances with other adults walking back down the hill.  This is the view of the Astoria-Megler Bridge from the Goonie house.  Ironically, most of the movie's later scenes were filmed in, and around Cannon Beach.....about 30 miles south of Astoria.

At last we headed east on HWY 30, and just kept going this time....lol.  The drive out to Clatskanie where we turned on to HWY 47 and began an immediate climb into the Clatsop State Forest.

The drive gave up great views at every turn.  Before we knew it we were back in Jewell, where we started, and had big grins on our collective faces.  What a great day of site seeing, and serendipity.

Thanks for stopping by!

A walk in the park...

There is a local lady who sells FRESH eggs....TLE bought some the other day....they come in white, brown, green, blue.....very, very cool.  Well, eggs are not really the subject of my post today, but I just had to put in a picture of those beautiful eggs....I'm a Southern Cal boy, and our eggs are all white!

Saturday was supposed to be clear with a high temp of 86 degrees, and it was all of that.  We decided to get an early start and ride our tandem to Lee Wooden County Park, about 11 miles from our location.  Once at the park we would walk a quarter mile to Fish Hawk Falls, the highlight of this county park.

We crossed the Nehalem River (we stopped for a picture) and headed 7 miles out HWY 103 to Nehalem HWY.  A few years ago when we were here in Decmeber we took a ride on our road bikes and had several dog encounters just before Jewell High School, so I was on the lookout as we came near the high school, but all the mean dogs must have been asleep, because the only dog we encountered just ran along the opposite side of the road for about 20 yards before he lost interest.....no barking, or snarling.  We hit the Nehalem HWY at the 7 mile mark and headed north toward Astoria.  

Just before the flying insects swarmed us.

At about the 4 mile mark we turned left into Lee Wooden County Park where we picked up the hiking trail to Fish Hawk Falls.  Our plan had been to eat lunch at the falls, and TLE had come prepared with great sandwiches, and some gatorade, but within minutes of arriving at the falls the flies, gnats and mosquitoes swarmed us, so we took a couple of quick pictures, and raced back to the tandem.  

We headed a mile back down Nehalem HWY to the Jewell Elk Preserve where there was shade, a breeze, and some picnic tables.  Thankfully the swarm of nasty flying insects did not follow and we were able to eat our lunch unmolested by the insect world!

No bugs!!

Most of our ride to the park was a steady climb, so most of our ride back was on the downhill, and we flew along around 16mph most of the way.  As we crossed back over the Nehalem River we stopped for this picture.

This was a hot day.....at least hot by comparison to the last 4 weeks......we spent the afternoon watching the Olympics.


Thanks for stopping by!

Pumpin' Again....

Elaine and I started the day watching the Japanese women's soccer team eliminate the favored Brazilians with a 2-0 final score.  It was a good game, and I still can't believe the Japanese team won....they only had two shots on goal, and both went in....the Brazilians had a couple dozen shots on goal and scored nil.

A couple of weeks ago the Jabsco 12v macerator pump we use to empty the gray water tank when we are far away from a dump site froze up and gave up the ghost, for sure.  OK, for a macerator pump it had a long life of 30 years.....in dog years that's like 210 years!   I began a search for a new pump while we were still in Coupeville, but was reluctant to spend $124+ on a new Jabsco.  I found an alternative in the Chugger 12v macerator pump on Ebay for $65, so I gave it a shot and ordered.  It look just like the Jabsco, but is half price.  It took me a while to install it, because I didn't have a large enough pipe wrench to undo the universal joint at the bottom.  A neighbor of the friend we are visiting was called, and he brought over the right sized wrench, and I was able to loosen the universal joint.....I'm glad I saturated it with penetrating oil for an hour, or so.  When I got it loose I could see that the oil had penetrated a couple of inches and that was the difference in getting it loose.  It works great.  Considering that use a couple of times a month at most, it should enjoy a reasonably long life. I'd be happy it it lasted half the life of the original Jabsco.


I spent the rest of the day doing insurance work....imagine that....actually working for a living....lol!


Watching the Olympics every night until Midnight has made me a tired boy....I took an hour and a half nap late this afternoon after washing the passenger side of the coach.


Tomorrow we'll take a 22 mile round trip tandem ride to a local park to see  a water fall.


Thanks for stopping by!

Seaside and Cannon Beach

Thursday we mostly hung out at "home".....I started the arduous task of washing the coach again.....washed the back and front caps, shined up the ALCOA wheels, and washed the Thunderbird.  I'll get to the passenger and drivers sides of the coach tomorrow when it is supposed to be a scorching 81 degrees.....I know, I'm still rubbing it in, but I can't help myself.  

Around 12:30pm I got cleaned up and the Lovely Elaine and I headed into Seaside to sample some local fare at U Street Pub and Eatery, which, of course, included some draft beer....specifically an Alameda Black Bear Stout for Elaine and I along with a French dip sandwich for Elaine and a hot pastrami for myself.  The food and beer were excellent, but the beer was a little pricey at $6.75 per glass.....ouch....especially when you bought 4!

After a very pleasant lunch, and painful tab we headed down to the ocean front area of Seaside and found these interesting views.

 Looking south...

Looking north

This was definitely sweatshirt weather, and I had mine on for a while....must have been around 60 degrees.  I overhead a lady....I'm assuming the wife of the one she called out to.....ask her husband, who was standing on the sand (she was on the promenade still)....."is the water cold?".....her husband replied...."NO.....(pause)....it's barely tolerable!"  Hmmm...that sounds cold to me.

We then headed south on HWY 101 to Cannon Beach, an artsy community about 10 miles south.  Cannon Beach was the site of a large portion of the movie "Goonies", which was popular back in the '80's.  We walked around downtown, and ultimately made our way to Bella Espresso for some coffee.   We had coffee at this place about 6 years ago, and the coffee is still good!

Of course, any visit to Cannon Beach must include the requisite pictures of one standing in front of Haystack Rock.

Haystack Rock and moi...

By the time we finished our pleasant walk on the beach it was after 4:30pm and time to head "home".

As Thursdays go, this was a nice one.  Thanks for stopping by!

Is it WORK, or is it FUN?

You may think that every day is a vacation when you fulltime, and you are probably right....even a work day like today is so much fun it must be vacation....lol!  Today Elaine went into Portland with her friend, whom we are visiting, and left me to my own devices.  I've been wanting to add a second row of LED strip lights to each side of our cove lighting in the bedroom to throw a little more light into the room.  I still had about 15 feet of the "warm" colored lighting, which is what I used in the bedroom, and I used about 6.5 feet on each side when I put the original single rows in back in February.  I got out my soldering gun,  my wire, etc. and soldered leads on each 6.5' strip, then installed them.  Wow.....the light is quite a bit better.

The cove lighting on the passenger side with second strip.

In addition I took one of the square light fixtures I had removed from the engine compartment way back in February and converted it to LED and installed that one under the microwave, just above the stove.  That light is used a lot, so getting rid of that automotive bulb will save a lot of juice while dry camping, and allow us to use that light more than we would under the old configuration.

The square fixture under the microwave and above the stove

Finally, I ran power over to the trailer, and got the two road bikes set up for some local rides.  Tomorrow I'll get the tandem set up, and my mountain bike.


That was my work day.......it was really too fun to be called work, so I'll just call it living the life!


Thanks for stoppoing by!