Windseeker RV Blog with Joe and Libby

Looking forward to the New Year... we were planning on celebrating New Year's eve with the band Pink Martini at the Arlene Schnitzer auditorium in Portland next weekend, but unfortunately we've both been plagued with the current flu bug and resultant coughing fits. So I placed a quick ad on Craigslist and sold the excellent tickets we had for face value, and now another nice Lake Oswego couple will get to enjoy the concert.

We'd like to wish all our blog readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We'll be spending the holidays at home and celebrating New Years with the beloved Portland music group Pink Martini at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland.

We decided to buy ourselves the Christmas present we've been wanting for some time now, a 20' Sun Tracker 18DLX Party Barge Signature Series Pontoon Boat. Powered by a reliable four-stroke Mercury 40 HP outboard motor this open platform motorboat is built atop two aluminum pontoons. While our primary interest is still sailing, there are many days when the wind doesn't materialize at the lake and the Sun Tracker will allow us to still get out on the water. Since Fern Ridge Shores has its own marina, we have a free slip near our RV where we can keep the boat in the water, yet it is easy to pull out using the marina's boat ramp and take it to other lakes in the Pacific NW for a change of venue any time we want.

Today we were treated to the first snowfall of the season. Woke up this morning to light flurries which increased as the morning went along. Forecast says we may get 3 inches. Fingers crossed... it'll most likely be gone by tomorrow wehn it's supposed to be sunny with a high of 45. But today it's only supposed to reach 37 so we should be looking at a white Sunday! But maybe this bodes well to be dreaming of a white Christmas. Hope so. My family in Florida is bragging about it being 75-80 degrees every day there. They can have it! We'll enjoy our mini dose of winter today and we'll be hoping for more as the season arrives. At the right is our backyard

Today we attended a matinee Christmas concert by the Portland Choir & Orchestra. The event was entitled "How Great Our Joy" at the Newmark Theater in Downtown Portland with special guest the Encore Youth Choir. We wanted to get our annual dose of Christmas Spirit and this seemed like an ideal way to do it.

We want to take a moment to wish all our friends and family a very Happy Thanksgiving. With so much tension around the country and around the globe, it is good to take some time out to reflect on all the blessings we enjoy and to consider what we can do to make the coming year a happier, more peaceful and loving year for all. Namaste

Today for something fun to do, we drove over to the Portland Metro RV Show at the Portland Expo Center. Four buildings chock full of dozens of brands of RV's of every size, shape and style. We looked at Class B's, Class A's, and Fifth wheels... but there were also lots of travel trailers, Class C motor coaches, and so on. Of course we are quite happy with our two RV's and not in the market for anything else at this point in time. But it's always fun to kick tires and browse.

The time of year has arrived and it is time to winterize our RV's. Part of owning an RV is proper winterization when you put them into storage for the winter months in northern climes. I am capable of doing it myself, but I use a portable air compressor which is down in Veneta at the moment. The weather forecast is showing rain every day for the next ten days (3" tomorrow!!!). So I contracted with a couple mobile techs... one in Vancouver and the other in Eugene to winterize both the motorhome and the 5th wheel for us. Temps are dropping to the high 20's for a night or two next week, so it was time to get on the stick. Next tentative planned trip is next spring.

We're back at home now in Vancouver, WA as we transition into fall. We enjoyed a great concert, "Revolution - the Music of The Beatles", the new authorized symphonic tribute to the Fab Four, featuring top vocalists and musicians accompanied by the Oregon Symphony at the Arlene Schnitzer Auditorium in downtown Portland. Most enjoyable concert featuring dozens of the Beatles' top hits.

Today we pulled our Catalina 22 sailboat out of the water... at the right is our boat on its trailer behind our Dodge Durango. We are parked in the marina parking lot and you can see the marina out behind. That's Libby on board doing the final touches as we prepare to tow it back to our space at Fern Ridge Shores RV Park where it will spend the winter until we can launch it again next spring. A lot of boats are still in their slips, but we received notice the marina access gate will be locked next Monday night, so I expect there will be a lot of frantic last minute haulouts this weekend. Other sailors were proactive getting it done today like we did, but I suspect it will be a stampede this weekend.

Today was the last sailing day of the 2022 season on Fern Ridge Lake with fair skies, temp 74 degrees and steady west winds. Although there is still plenty of water in the lake, Lane County in their infinite wisdom has decided to close the lake on Monday evening. Everyone is furious. Also ironic because today was one of the best days we have had all season with steady west winds in 10-12 range as we shared the lake with a couple dozen other sailboats all getting their last licks in on this Tuesday afternoon. Click on the photo at the right to watch a one minute video of today's sailing on Youtube.

Weekend warriors will be enjoying this weekend. We awoke this morning to crystal clear weather with temps in the low 60's, forecast to rise to the low 80's today with clear skies and a moderate breeze. We're certainly happy for the latter so we can get out on the lake for some sailing, which has been pretty limited in recent weeks. At the right is a screenshot of the webcam taken this morning from Orchard Point marina showing the view across the lake past the dam across to Richardson Marina where we keep our boat.

Son Patrick and his lovely wife Linjia have moved to New York as previously noted back on July 2. They have taken up residence now in a nice apartment in Brooklyn, convenient to public transportation, etc. It's a career move and they hope to return to the Pacific NW within a couple years. On Friday Libby flew to La Guardia for a brief visit. She's only planning to stay the weekend as both Pat and Linjia are very busy with their new jobs M-F. They are all playing tourist. Here's a selfie Linjia took of the three of them today by the East River right between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge. Taffy and I stayed home and relaxed, leaving all the running around to the young folks :-)

We always take a moment to wish our little boy a Happy Birthday even though he has gone to the happy squirrel hunting grounds in the sky. We miss him and remember him fondly... here he was sailing with us years ago. Such a cute little guy! He's always traveling with us in spirit!

We're having a minor hotspell in Eugene this week, with the temps forecast in the low 90's. though mild by comparison to LA where temps are going to exceed 110 degrees this week! But still the heat here will kill the wind and there'll be no sailing. It's much cooler at the coast where temps will max out in the low 60's each day. So we jumped in the Miramar and drove the hour and a half to Winchester Bay, one of our favorite close in coastal retreats,

Tonite we went to a Pink Martini concert at the Hult Center in Eugene. We bought the tickets many months ago because as always they were completely sold out... all 3800 seats :-) The concert featured both lead singers, China Forbes and Storm Large, appearing together... both great talents. IF you are not familiar with Pink Martini you need to watch some Youtube videos of the iconic band. If you enjoy music by a top notch 10 piece orchestra, especially music with a sizzling latin rhythm, then Pink Martini is for you.

We were last out sailing a full month ago on July 24. Winds have been been pretty uncooperative this summer, ofen too light or from the wrong direction which leads to gusty conditions on the lake. In addition, we went home late July so Grandma Lib could go to to San Francisco to see the grandkids. And while home we also scheduled some doctors' appointments. Then on the first of August I felt and badly sprained my right arm, so we stayed in Vancouver another week. When it showed enough improvement we came back to Veneta but had to wait out the Wind Gods to favor us with good sailing winds again. While out there Libby took this 2 minute video cruising across the lake

We're in the midst of a global heatwave, one that is also affecting most of the US right now... not as bad as the horrific "heatdome" last year but bad enough. We were planning to head home this week anyhow as Libby is flying to San Francisco for a long weekend to visit the grandchildren, so we're pulling out early to avoid the heat and heading home where our central air at home will keep us cool until we get back next week when hopefully the intense heat will have subsided.

Mid summer and temps are hitting records across the globe. Europe is on fire, North Africa is a blast furnace, and it's hot across the US with many places in the middle of country setting records as well. It has turned hot here in the Pacific Northwest as well, 8° above normal, but nothing like the middle of the country. We hit 92° here today which would probably be a welcome relief in Oklahoma or Texas. At the right is an animated gif made from a 4 photo sequence on ABC news tonite showing global warming over the past 60 years! And they stress this *is* the best case scenario moving forward. We're not going to be reducing the effects of global warming. At best we can stall it, but on our current trajectory it is likely to get much worse.

Today we drove back from Westfir and our brief stay at Casey's Riverside RV Park. We parked the Miramar at our storage facility and drove back to Fern Ridge Shores Resort, relaxed for a bit then headed over to the marina where we took the Catalina 22 out for a couple hours late afternoon in 12-18 mph winds. Not many boats out - we left the jib sail furled and sailed only on the mainsail.

Just an hour or so away from Eugene is a lovely little place we have stayed before called Casey's Riverside RV Park on the banks of the confluence of the North and Middle forks of the Willamette River in Westfir, Oregon. The river is very swift here with rushing rapids and here we are sitting on the swing overlooking the river. Would be a challenging spot for some whitewater kayaking if that was our thing. Fortunately it is not. It is also a very relaxing spot, which *is* our thing. This is the same view directly out of our front windows in the motorhome. There are many more photos from this trip on our gallery page.

We returned back from Silverton just in time to catch an excellent sailing session on the lake on Sunday with 15 other sailboats... ideal winds in the 12-15 range. We sailed until about 7:00 and got back to the dock just before 7:30. Today we woke up to a lot of wind, but the heatwave sweeping the globe is catching up with us today with forecast temps in the mid 90's today. Might be a little hot for sailing. Watching the BBC this morning, apparently it is hot all over the world including in Spain and Portugal, where this lady was carrying her panting doggie. He's a westie that looks exactly like our Corey, who passed on a couple years ago. Such a cute lil guy!

Pictured is a sculpture of the Loch Ness monster in the A-mazing Water Garden at the Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon. The A-mazing Water Garden is one of a dozen themed gardens within the Oregon Garden compound. Among others these include the Axis Garden, Bosque, Conifer Garden, Tropical House, Medicinal Garden. Home Demonstration Garden, etc. We drove up to Silverton for a few days, since the wind was not blowing and Libby had long wanted to visit the Oregon Garden. We'll also visit Silver Falls State Park in the same area and pop into the Mt Angel Sausage company to split a delicious European Wurst Sampler plate complete with delicious sauerkraut, and sensational fried "Kartoffeln und Zwiebeln" (potatoes with onions).

Today the chicks flew the nest :-(. Son Patrick and wife Linjia caught a flight for New York today where they are planning to live for the next couple years. Linjia has an excellent job offer with Sidewalk Labs, an urban planning and infrastructure subsidiary of Google. Patrick also has secured an engineering position in New York. Both of these new jobs are career moves, but they intend the move to be temporary and to return to the Pacific Northwest within 2 years. We sure hope so. We'll miss them both, and the grandpuppy, Poe.

Today was our last day at Winchester Bay for this short trip before we head back to Fern Ridge Lake. We drove up about 4 miles to the town of Reedsport and then took Highway 38 east past the Dean Creek Elks Preserve where we have been before and followed the Umpqua River out about 15 miles until the cool coastal air was replaced by the hot dry air from the brief heatwave. Then we turned back and took the turn off up to a little mountain lake called Loon Lake. Looks like a fun water recreation spot for swimming and all manner of boating.

Winchester Bay on the Oregon Coast is one of favorite spots on the Oregon coast for a quick getaway. Winchester Bay RV Resort is just an hour and half from Fern Ridge Shores; it's a totally different environment, especially when it gets hot inland. This weekend was supposed to be in the 90s back at the lake, so it was a good time to escape to the coast hwre it is always much cooler with the sea breezes. In addition there's an MG Club gathering at Tugman State Park just a few miles from the Resort here, so we towed the MG down on it's dolly and will go over and join our friends tomorrow.

Yesterday was first day of summer and our first sailing day in almost a month. We were back out on the lake today in absolutely perfect conditions... temp around 80, super steady winds around 10-12mph and several dozen sailboats out on the lake to enhance the view. Speaking of the view, that's my cute first mate as best part of my view!

Today is Father's Day and like all dutiful children, our 'dogter' helped me celebrate by sitting in my lap. Of course, having the BelVita crackers with a cup of coffee will always beckon Taffy to the throne. Here she is avidly awaiting her little morning treat! Every Dad should be as lucky as me!

Today was still rainy off and on, so for a little something different we went over to the Oregon Horse Center in Eugene where they were having a Morgan Horse competition. Morgans are some of the most beautiful and beloved horses anywhere and they excel in dressage competition. This was a small local event but still fun to ooh and ahh over the beautiful animals.. Horses were an important part of both our lives when we were much younger so it is always pleasant to see some really fine animals strut their stuff and be recognized along with their riders for their accomplishments.

Today we fired up the MG and headed down Territorial Highway to Bradley Vineyards in the town of Elkton, about 40 miles south of the lake. This is an enjoyable twisty backroad with no traffic. About a half dozen other retired club members from the Central Oregon Coast British Car Club drove in from Florence and we met them at the Vineyard... we brought sandwiches along. We did a little winetasting, bought a few bottles, and had a picnic on the vineyard's deck. Lovely quiet setting and good company.

We drove home for the Memorial Day weekend as rain was forecast and we had tickets to see the Stars on Ice show at Portland's Memorial Coliseum. Libby and I are are big figure skating fans and follow all the international competitions from the Olympics down to the Grand Prix Circuit, the US Championships, and the Worlds. We know all the top skaters in each discipline really well and this was our chance to see many of them live from Olympic Gold Medalist Nathan Chen down to US champion Mariah Bell and many others. Here's an image telling a bit about all the skaters in the show.

Today was a pleasant warm day with no wind at all in the forecast. So we took the opportunity to hop into the MG and take the one hour cruise over Hwy 126 to Florence on the Oregon coast. Hwy 126 is a scenic state road which winds through the beautiful coastal mountain range to the Oregon Coast. We drove down to Heceta State Beach and took Taffy for a walk on the beach. Then we drove over to our favorite restaurant at the Florence Harbor along the Siuslaw River, the International C-food Market Restaurant. We have been there many times over the years. We enjoy sitting on the outside deck which is dog-friendly, and having a bowl of their delicious clam chowder.

We got the boat launched on the 16th, but then we had rain on the 17th and 18th, and very strong winds yesterday making it too difficult to rig the sails in the marina. Today was milder with winds in the 10-12 range. But the marina is fairly well protected so we rigged the sails, then had lunch at Countryside Pizza where I had a great Philly Cheesesteak sandwich and Libby had a club. We each ate half our sandwich and a nice fresh salad and then stopped home, walked Taffy and headed back over to the marina about 4:00 for a 2 1/2 hour session. It was a bit chilly... you can see I am wearing a flannel shirt and gloves, but sunny with good winds.

Well the weather has cleared somewhat so we were able to launch the boat on Fern Ridge Lake today. In years past we have launched more than a month earlier, but while the weather was nice in early spring, the lake never filled up and the season ended early as the water got too low to use the boat ramps. This year it is VERY full as you can see in this shot where the ramp is completely level leading to our dock from the shoreline. We're in C-34 out towards the end of the dock. The marina is only about 30% full right now, but over the next couple weekends it should fill up quickly.

After a wet and chilly start to spring this year we have finally decided it is time to open up life at the lake... Fern Ridge Reservoir where we keep our Catalina 22 sailboat at Richardson Marina for the summer. We arrived today, better late than never, and began opening things up for the season. We'll spend the summer here, just as we have for the last three years, hanging out at our deluxe 5th Wheel RV, "Villa Vilano" sailing as a much as we can, and cruising some sensational quiet local backroads with the MG, all the while enjoying the good life.

Today we took in the Sunday matinee at our favorite local theater in the Portland area... the Lakewood. This is a superb production of the marvelous musical, Camelot, by Lerner and Lowe, with a new, inventive take on an old show and an ages-old story. With a new framework a band of ten traveling Revelers tells a story of passion, jealousy, and revenge. This is the legendary love triangle between King Arthur, his wife Guenevere, and Sir Lancelot. This tale starts after Arthur miraculously pulls the sword Excalibur from the stone and becomes the king of England and takes us to a tragic but hopeful end where Arthur beknights young Tom of Warwicke, to carry forth his ideaiistic vision proclaiming that "men die, but an idea doesn't."

Today, May 1, turned out to be a beautiful afternoon after the wettest April in decades due to La Nina. Of course we have been cheering on the rain to fill up Fern Ridge Lake and it has been doing the job as the lake is just one foot below full pool... something we haven't seen since 2019. But it is nice to get a break and take the MG out for a spin. We drove over to Vancouver Lake and took Taffy for a walk in the park. Taffy really enjoys riding in the MG too and can sit on the rear bench and look out the middle between the seats, or just curl up and lie down back there which she does quite a bit. More photos on our gallery page.

Well we bit the bullet and busted the bank and purchased a new Leafguard gutter system. These are the premier gutter system on the market... and they are priced like it. And this house is architecturally glamorous but has the gutter system of two houses. But over the long haul Leafguard gutters add immeasurably to maintenance, appearance and resale of a home. We had the original gutters on this house. They were pretty sad, and even with screens around the front they would still get clogged with debris and overflow badly in the heavy rains. We have purchased Leafguard gutters on two previous houses and they are well worth the expense. See the Leafguard website for complete info.

At just over 2 years old, our grandson Oliver had his first solo sleepover at Grammie's house. Tim and family are visiting Portland this week. They rented a home in Portland, kind of midway between our house in Vancouver and his father's place in Lake Oswego. We have been down to Portland to visit them, and today Libby brought grandson Ollie back to our house for a 'big boy' visit to Grammie and Pop Pop. Here he is helping Grammie prepare dinner as Taffy looks on with great interest just in case any food hits the floor!

This is no April Fools joke! We have 4-5" of snow this morning in our yard and flakes are still falling at 10:30 am. It's not the most snow we have seen here... not like the winter of 2017 when we got 9 inches at our home. But for mid April this is some kind of a record! The photo at the right is of the Blue Spruce and the Norway Spruce in our back yard. Some areas around the Portland metro area got quite a bit more! Normally the snows are long gone by mid April in this area. It will melt quickly as the high temperature predicted for today is 42 degrees, but still it was quite a shock to wake up to it this morning. Looking at the lake cams at Fern Ridge Lake where our 5th wheel is parked shows they got no snow at all there.

Well spring is blooming everywhere now. The cherry trees are beginning to give up their blossoms and others are now in full bloom. Right is a line of Callery Pear trees. This ornamental pear is ubiquitous in our neighborhood, lining the streets near our home. Their opulent white blossoms are just lovely.

My favorite athlete of all time, Secretariat, the greatest racehorse in the history of sport, was born March 30, 1970 (March 29 West Coast time). He was named Thoroughbred Racing's Horse of the year as a two year old, the first time a two year old ever won that honor. He became the first Triple Crown Winner in 50 years in 1973, breaking track records for the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and the Belmont, where he won the race by a record 31 lengths, a record which still stands today. In 2015, we visited Claiborne Farm in Lexington, KY, where Secretariat stood at stud, and we placed flowers at his grave. Called by some "The greatest athlete the world has ever seen", I watch this special tribute every year on his birthday... R.I.P. Big Red".

Today was a warm spring day with no rain in the forecast so we decided to take the MG out and give her some exercise. We drove the hour or so on back roads down to Mt Angel to a tavern we visited once before some years back... the Mt Angel Sausage Company. Here we are parked out in front of the tavern. The sign on the front of the yellow truck reads "Got Brat!!" We sure did. Brats and then some...Here's a photo of the European Wurst Sampler plate that we split, complete with delicious sauerkraut, and sensational fried "Kartoffeln und Zwiebeln" (potatoes with onions). Not to mention some outstanding Deutsches Bier. Yummmm!

We always know when it is spring here in the Pacific Northwest when the cherry blossoms come out. We get a gorgeous display here right about the beginning of spring each year. Our neighborhood abounds with ornamental cherry trees on almost every block. This is a grouping of them just a block away. And just half a block down at the next intersection is another spread on both sides of the street.

There's a bit of a sense of guilt, enjoying a holiday and toasting a Happy St Patrick's Day with all the horror that is occurring on the other side of the planet. But I guess we all need at least some relief from all the bad news and what better way than to celebrate our Irish heritage ('me own grandmother's name was Sweeney') on St. Paddy's Day. Have a glass of green beer to toast a quick conclusion of this horrific episode in Ukraine.

On a lighter note, while we are watching a lot of news coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on TV, on a lighter note, someone else prefers Dog TV, courtesy of Youtube projecting onto the big screen TV. Taffy will sit motionless for extended periods watching the screen intently as squirrels frolic on the screen. Watching from the footrest of my recliner, she seems most focused on the TV at night when it is dark outside... during the day she watches out the window, focused on the squirrel feeder on the back fence.

This blog has attempted to avoid politics over the last decade, but the time has come to stand up for freedom, against the tyrannical dictator Valdimir Putin and express solidarity with Ukraine which is struggling for its very existence. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, in an escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War that began in 2014. The invasion is the largest military attack in Europe since World War II. Invading a neighboring country to take control of it is NOT something that any of us can stand idly by and watch happen. Sunflowers are Ukraine's national flower. Throughout Ukraine's history, the flower has been used as a symbol of peace. In June 1996, to celebrate Ukraine giving up nuclear weapons, U.S., Russian and Ukrainian defense ministers planted sunflowers in a ceremony at southern Ukraine's Pervomaysk missile base.

We arrived back in the Portland area on Tuesday. We're going to park the motorhome for a few days at Fairview RV Park just across the river from our home. We arrived home to a deep freeze with the weather and since the the motorhome has not been winterized (we have been living in it), we decided it was safest to spend the nights in it, keep it heated, and wait out the freeze which should be over by the weekend. We awoke this morning to snow on the ground! First instance of real winter weather we have seen since we left home Dec 1. We'll go back and forth across the river each day to make it to doctor and dental appointments and then probably take the motorhome to storage in Vancouver over the weekend.

2-22-22 is called a palindrome. This year we actually had two... 2-2-22 and today. Ten years ago we had 1-1-11 and 1-11-11 but the next one 3-3-33 is one that none of us will see. So make the most of this one! Expect Great Things! Coincidentally this is the day we actually return home after almost 3 months! Or Caifornia Adventure which included Las Vegas and some time on the Oregon Coast finally concludes. We'll be happy to be home again, but a little sad to tuck our Miramar, Mimi, away for safe keeping for a while.

Today while at our last stop in Lincoln City before returning home, we visited the Lincoln City Cultural Center where they were hosting an exit of 'marine debris sculpture' created by Angela Haseltine Pozzi's nonprofit Washed Ashore. We first encountered her unique form of art a few years ago with the permanent statue of Cosmo the Tufted Puffin at Bandon Beach. We stopped back earlier on this trip to visit Cosmo the Tufted Puffin. This beauty is Priscilla the Parrotfish swimming above the corral reef all made with marine debris. See all the amazing Washed Ashore sculptures in this exhibit on Washed Ashore photo gallery.

Our last stop before we arrive back in Veneta is Winchester Bay on the Oregon coast just south of Florence. We have been here before. It's a great RV Park in a really enjoyable location and a great location, and we got the same bayfront spot that we had last time with a nice view out the windshield of the marina with a lot of sailboats. We'll stay here until Friday morning when we move on to Veneta. We'll make a quick stop at the lake. I have a detailer coming to wash and wax 'Villa Vilano' and also place my Bird Barrier Daddi Longlegs on the roof to ward off the crows who have been tearing up my rubberized TPO roof.

This morning we pulled out of Bandon Beach for a short hop up to Winchester Bay, one of our favorite Oregon coastal destinations. Enroute we pulled off off Hwy 101 and headed out to Cape Arago State Park, a scenic headland jutting into the Pacific Ocean just north of Bandon Beach. The photo at the right kinda defines the word "scenic".

From Crescent City we drove on to Bandon Beach, Oregon just north of Brookings on the south Oregon coast. We have stopped here before and had stumbled onto a spectacular spot called Coquille Point. Like Crescent City, the coastline here really is spectacular as waves break over the offshore rocks and onto the expansive beaches. More excellent photos on our gallery page including photos of Cosmo the Tufted Puffin.

Today we left Eureka and headed north. We stopped over in Crescent City, a popular beach town right up on the border of northern California and Oregon. The Pacific coastline here is as raw and beautiful as it gets. See more beautiful photos of both the spectacular coastline as well as some photos of nearby Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park on our gallery page.

Our last stop in California this trip is Eureka, on the northen California Coast. My good friend Gary Rooney and wife Kate raised their son Logan here after leaving Portland around 20 years ago. We have visited them here before. Eureka is an old lumber town where lumber barons built many old Victorian mansions. Here's the most famous one in the city, the Carson Mansion is a large Victorian house built from 1884 to 1886 which is located in the historic Old Town, considered to be one of the premier examples of Queen Anne style architecture in the United States. It currently houses "The Ingomar Club", a gentlemen's club which promotes good fellowship.

We pulled into the Benbow KOA in Garberville, CA yesterday for a brief layover heading back to Oregon. We rented a golf cart and drove around the little 9 hole golf course there, with a chipper and a putter each, and fooled around on the greens. We were alone on the course and we had good time... Taffy did too! Lots more photos on our gallery page.

Today we had lunch at Taco Bell in Pacifica. Wait a second... This ain't just any Taco Bell, this is Taco Bell Cantina on the beach in Pacifica, California! They even serve beer here! I would imagine there are not many places like this literally beachside. Eat your tacos or burritos and watch the surfers riding waves on the beach. After lunch we took a stroll on the beach and let Taffy run... she just loves to race around on the sand!

Today was "Twos-day" - the first palindrome of the month of February 2022. To celebrate we had a delicious "Linner" at a nearby eaterie called Celia's Mexican Restaurant with Libby's cousins John and Sue who drove down from Napa for a visit.

As shown in previous photos on this blog, son Tim and his wife Kristin live in San Francisco. They have two children now, Oliver who is almost 2 now and little Emery who is just 3 months old now. Both are adorable, and while Emery is still an infant and just starting to show signs of recognizing us, Ollie is very attached to Grammie and Pop Pop and is a lot of fun to play with. Here he is in the neighborhood park on his new balance bike (no pedals).

Today we took Pacific Coast Highway, also called Highway 1, from Pacifica down to Santa Cruz, to meet up with an old friend who lives down there. This is a very scenic drive which takes about an hour and a half straight through, but we made a a day of it, making number of stops for some really scenic photo opps. The scenic spot at the right is at Pigeon Point, where there is also a very photogenic lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse on the West Coast. More photos on our gallery page.

We pulled into the small coastal town of Pacifica, California today. With our Thousand Trails membership and the Encore rider, we can stay here for $20 a night... regular price more than $120/nite. This is by far the best place to stay close in to the city of San Francisco. It is just a short 20 minute drive into the Presidio district of SF where son Tim and wife Kristin live with our two grandchildren, Oliver and Emery. This park with the name San Francisco RV Park sits right on the bluffs above the Pacific Ocean. Just a few steps from our RV space is this bench with a great view north up the coast.

Today we drove out to Red Rock Canyon about 30 minutes west of Las Vegas. We had been here before but it was perfect sunny clear weather and worth another trip. We took the 13 mile scenic drive through the canyon gawking at the large red rock formations, sandstone peaks and walls which were formed by thrust faults a few hundred million years ago. Oxidation of the iron minerals in the sediments resulted in the red colors of some of the rocks.

Just outside of Las Vegas to the east is the iconic Hoover Dam. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and stands on the border between Nevada and Arizona. Built along the Colorado River, Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead. Currently the lake level stands at 1066' down from full pool of 1220' elevation... down about 154' in the continuing drought in the southwest. No one knows if or when this will turn around... it is down another 20' over the past year. Besides irrigating much of Southern California with the Colorado River, Hoover Dam provides a great deal of electrical power to California, Arizona and Nevada. All are in jeopardy as Lake Mead continues to drop. This photo was taken from the Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, also known as the Hoover Dam Bypass.

Today we pulled into Las Vegas, Nevada, staying at the Las Vegas RV Resort. This is a very nice park with long pull thrus and all asphalt roads and RV pads. The flat asphalt roads which meander throughout the large park are perfect for getting a little exercise with our new bicycles which we brought along. There is a Thousand Trails park in Las Vegas but they only had availability for a couple days so we opted to stay here. This really is a first class RV Resort with a long list of of amenities and centrally located for some of things we want to try and see or do while here.

Today we left Palm Springs and headed out on our winter itinerary part II which will take us over to Las Vegas and then north thru San Francisco and up the Oregon Coast and back home. After a quick layover yesterday in Victorville, CA due to the high winds and slow driving in the desert we crossed into Nevada today. We're heading for Las Vegas where we plan to stay about 5 days. At the state line I snapped this cool photo of this photogenic welcome sign.

From Menifee we moved on to Palm Springs about an hour away. At the right is a photo of our Miramar parked in its space for the next 4 days. We'll be visiting friends Steve and Judy C. while we're here and just hanging out in the warm desert weather, before we move on to Long Beach, CA, our next destination. Tonite we all went to Babe's Bar-B-Que & Brewery in Rancho Mirage. Delicious BBQ! Yummmm! More great photos on our gallery page.

Here's a view from the city of Temecula looking north to the snow capped San Bernadino Mountains. We saw this view many times as we drove around Menifee, California where we stayed a couple days at the Thousand Trails Wilderness Lakes RV Resort. Today I snapped this photo as we headed over Palm Springs for a few days.

We came to San Diego to spend the holidays with family... but also figured to escape some winter weather at home. Today fulfilled that wish... this is our security camera screenshot of our driveway, And here's another shot of the backyard just out behind the driveway. I heard it amounted to about 3 inches of snow or so with more on the way. We're getting rain here in San Diego but at least temps are not dropping to the teens like they are at home right now.

As we celebrate Christmas in San Diego with family, we hope all our friends are celebrating their joyous holiday season and looking forward to a happy, healthy, prosperous new year! We don't go overboard with Christmas decor when in our RV, but some of our neighbors really go all out.

Yesterday we pulled in the slides, hooked up the car and headed a couple hours west to the little town of Ojai, nestled in the foothills above the city of Ventura. My lifelong friend Mike Schradle lives in Ojai with his wife Marilyn. We haven't seen each other in a couple years because of COVID, and are planning to spend 3 nights at their place before we head on to San Diego. We have stayed here before... They live on several acres and have a long flat concrete driveway we can park on and connect to their water and 20A power. 20A is enough to run the refrigerator, minimal appliances and keep the batteries charged. Here we have joined them for morning coffee on their sunlit patio with a marvelous view of their orchard and White Ledge Peak in the nearby Santa Ynez Mountains. More photos on our gallery page.

Part of the Santa Clara River Valley, Soledad Canyon is located about 20 miles or so up Hwy 14 out of Santa Clarita in the northern edge of Los Angeles County. Thousand Trails has a campground here and we decided to make a 4 day layover here before continuing on. It's a large facility with one of the classiest entrances we have seen in the Thousand Trails network. Here's the Miramar parked out front while Libby went inside to register. Look close and you can see Taffy peering out the passenger window pondering what sort of critters might be running around *this* place! In general the campground suited our needs and we got a nice long pull thru space with full hookups and a clear shot at the Dish Satellites, but the place could definitely stand a little TLC.

We spent our first night in California in Red Bluff, then down to Morgan Hill RV Resort, a part of the Thousand Trails network, for 4 nights. Libby got in a visit to San Francisco for a night to visit the grandkids. Then this morning we headed down I-5 for a layover at Orange Grove RV Park & Resort before we head over the Grapevine into the LA Basin tomorrow. Orange Grove RV Park is a really nice park as you can see from the aerial. Big level wide pull-through spaces with orange trees at every site. We parked the Miramar in amongst the orange trees and picked a dozen delicious navel oranges which are ripe and sweet right now. More photos on our gallery page.

We had absolutely no trouble crossing over the Summit today. We had a little fog on the way up but it was clear blue skies and perfectly dry roads through the pass. Our Miramar coach passed the test with flying colors, the big V-10 never dropping below 50 mph up the grade. It's an easy cruise on I-5 through the Siskiyous as you wind down into California past Mt Shasta. Shasta had some snow on it but the area was quite dry and Shasta Lake water level was the lowest we have ever seen it in all our trips down into California. Level is 171.30 feet below full pool of 1,067'. The drought is really taking its toll! Hopefully this winter will turn it around.

Fortunately we have been watching the weather carefully for several weeks now, using the excellent 14 day forecast offered by myweather2.com. Long range forecasts are never totally reliable, particularly in the mountains, but as the date draws closer this one tends to be very reliable. We felt very confident driving through the pass today. The forecast is the same for tomorrow and snow doesn't move in until Monday when we will be safely down in Red Bluff, California, well south of the snow zone. That is how you spell R-E-L-I-E-F!

This morning we got up early and prepared for the most serious part of our journey down into Caifornia, crossing the Siskiyou Summit. Commonly called "The. Siskiyous," this is considered one of the most hazardous stretches of road along Interstate 5 up and down the west coast, because it rises to an elevation of 4310', which at this latitude can be quite treacherous in winter driving conditions. We have made this trek a number of times in the past, and when driving a motorhome while towing, safety is always our primary consideration. The excellent Tripcheck road cams always add a lot to our confidence about road conditions.

This morning we hit the road again, heading south in the Miramar. Our winter itinerary part I will take us down I-5, crossing over the Siskiyou Mountains into California. Then we'll head down thru the central valley, cut over to the coast and down to Ojai, CA to see friends, then on to San Diego for a family Christmas celebration the end of the month. After the holiday we'll continue our winter itinerary part II and meander north again during the month of January and plan to be back home by mid February. We had planned to leave a little later in December, but watching the weather forecast thru the mountains and over Siskiyou Summit, we decided it was prudent to leave earlier.

If you have not visited this blog recently, you might want to have a look back at our 2021 Travelogue which documents some major life changes as the COVID-19 pandemic really began to limit activities. The 2021 Travelogue features photos like the ones at the right and many more. Left to right and top to bottom those thumbnail photos are our Vilano 5th Wheel, MG Adventures, our new Miramar Motorcoach, Joe sailing, the Anne Marie sailing, Libby & Taffy sailing, MGB travels, Taffy and Poe, and the Blokart I tried..

Windseeker 2021 Northwest Travelogue

Previous Windseeker Travelogues 2012-2021:
Select another Windseeker page from the dropdown menu  :   2021:  Windseeker VI  Miramar - Western Travels 2021 2020:  Windseeker V  Forester - Western Travels 2020 2019:  Windseeker V  Forester - Western Travels 2019 2018:  Windseeker V  Forester - Western Travels 2017-18 2016:  Windseeker III  Allegro Bus - Eastern Tour - PART II 2016:  Windseeker III  Allegro Bus - Eastern Tour - PART I 2015:  Windseeker III  Allegro Bus - National Tour - PART II 2015:  Windseeker III  Allegro Bus - National Tour - PART I 2014:  Windseeker III  Allegro Bus - Western Tour 2013:  Windseeker II  Country Coach - Western Tour 2012:  Windseeker I  Gulf Stream - Northwest Tour 2011:  Windseeker I  Gulf Stream - Shakedown Cruise 2010:  our first RV - Ford F250 with Lance Camper ---------------------------------