Oct 9 - Nov 4 - Oregon Coast, Part 2

The first week of  this report we spent at the Whaler's Rest 1000 Trails near Newport OR. Our membership with 1000 Trails lets us stay up to 21 days in any given park before having to move out for at least 7 days. We chose to park near Newport for a week before returning to South Jetty at Florence.

We continued to enjoy spectacular weather - and took advantage of it to see some sights. One day after lunch,we went out to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, which offers some spectacular views of the coast. We were surprised to also see thousands of brown pelicans, roosting on every available rock. Must have been the start of the migration - we've never before seen so many pelicans on the Oregon Coast.

From Newport, we made a short trip into McMinnville OR. Both of Judy's degrees are from Linfield College in McMinnville, which celebrated it's 150th anniversary this year. We'd given enough money to the alumni fund to earn a commemorative brick in their alumni plaza, and we used it to honor Judy's mother who graduated in 1927. So we went to see the brick. Stopped for relatively cheap gas at the Spirit Mountain Casino and had some lunch while we were there. Very good food.

Speaking of relatively cheap gas, we have been well pleased at the dramatic drops in the price of petrol - over $1 a gallon in the 4 weeks covered by this report. While Oregon gas prices are still high compared to many parts of the country, $2.19 gasoline (the lowest we've bought so far) seems pretty appealing. We also realize there are some significant downsides to the way the economy is mis-behaving. We hope it's not impacting you.

Upon our return to South Jetty near Florence, Judy again settled in as the accompanist for the church choir, which included a special performance at a local Reedsport Talent Show. We had a delightful lunch with Shirley & David Bridgham, who have been mainstays of the Holiday Lights project at Shore Acres State Park since the beginning nearly 25 years ago. We've both been volunteers for the Friends of Shore Acres, although not very active since we've been traveling. A couple of days later, we met David & Shirley at the park to test whether we could find some cell phone service in the park by using an external antenna. The test was successful - we were able to get our computer on line, at least as long as David stood on a table and held the antenna high. We're hoping the weather cooperates and we can again see the park lit for the holidays as we head south after Thanksgiving.

We also spent a couple hours catching up with Walter and Bonnie Kunsek, formerly members of our Reedsport church and now living in Florence. They're as active as ever - ushering at the Florence Events Center, raising funds for the soon-to-be-built Florence Senior Center, and supporting various community lunch programs, just to scratch the surface. We can attest that Bonnie's pies are still to die for. Neat folks

On the errands front, we both had our eyes examined and then got new glasses, so we'll be looking good for a couple more years. Al had his hearing aids tweaked, so maybe he'll be more understanding for a while. (No apologies for punnery.)

We've long admired the various signs that RV folks display when they're parked - signs that identify who they are and where they're from. We finally got one of our own from a sign shop in Florence. The sign includes an image of the Umpqua Lighthouse at Winchester Bay. We like our sign.

There aren't a lot of pictures in our slideshow for these four weeks, but you'll find some of the pictures we did take here.