March 2002

March 28, Junction City, OR. We have been here at the Country Coach Factory since Sunday night....an interesting experience. They have a large parking area for our rigs with full hookups, including cable TV. At 7 am drivers arrive to take our coaches to the service bays, so we all move over to their Customer Care Center where they provide a nice area with tables, chairs, couches, TV, desks with modem hookups, etc. for us to make ourselves comfortable in until 4 pm when they return our "homes" to us for the night. We took advantage of one nice day to explore the area and see some of the 20 covered bridges they have in this county. Another day we took the Country Coach factory tour which was terrific...to see how they really make these motorhomes from the wheels up was very interesting, and just reinforced the fact that we had made a good decision when we bought a Country Coach. However, we saw that the new coaches have some design updates that we had recommended and would love to have....so we'll start saving for a new coach, I guess! Spring is here in full force with daffodils everywhere (this is a major daffodil area we found) and cherry trees in bloom....lovely. One day it was clear enough to see some of the snow-capped mountains in the distance. We hope to head over that way to explore if we get a good clear day.

March 20, Florence, OR. We arrived here today to take advantage of another "dry day". We LOVED Bandon by the Sea and recommend it as a stop for anyone going along the Oregon coast. The views along their beach are lovely and the town has some wonderful artists. We ate our way through town yesterday, visiting a candy shop with loads of free samples and a cheese factory where we sampled their fare. Bandon is known for its cranberries, so there are many delicacies made with these...I had fish with a wonderful cranberry sauce on it one night. However, we wanted to move on while there was a break in the weather, so we arrived in Florence (just 60 miles further up the coast) in time for Chris to play golf this afternoon. Our campground backs onto magnificent sand dunes which are prevalent here...huge! If it's dry tomorrow we'll take some photos when we climb them. We'll be here until Sat. or Sun. and then will head to our ultimate destination, Country Coach in Junction City, OR where our rig was made exactly a year ago. We have some repairs, upgrades, and warranty work that needs to be done, so we'll be there at least a week. During that time, we have to vacate our rig each day, although we can "hook up" each night when they return the coach to us. We'll get to know Junction City pretty well!

Photos above: Bandon's beach, Coquille River Lighthouse in Bandon, more Bandon beach scenes. The driftwood along these shores are amazing...huge hunks of wood! The yellow flowers are the gorse that is in bloom now...beautiful flowers, but really a prickly nuisance to everyone. Heceta Head Lighthouse and Chris on the Oregon Dunes behind our campground.

March 18, 2002: Bandon by the Sea, OR. We've been through snow, sleet, hail, lots of rain, and a little sun. (Chris is still attempting to play Bandon Dunes Golf Course today.) In spite of the weather, the OR coastline is awesome. Each bend in the road (and there are lots of them) brings a new, better view. We stayed in Gold Beach for the last two nights on the coast of the Rogue River. Our nightly entertainment while there were the deer and quail that visited the campground. Here are a few scenes:

March 14, 2002: Arcata, CA. We quickly left our campground this morning to take advantage of the sunniest day we've seen since leaving Napa. Last night we were supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow, but that never materialized! The drive north (only 70 miles or so) was lovely going through the Redwood forests, and ending in the flat, grazing lands around Eureka. We quickly settled into our campground in Arcata (Mad River Rapids RV Park) and headed north on a scenic drive recommended by campground personnel. He was right...we couldn't have seen more picturesque sights. We skirted the rugged shoreline for miles with one breathtaking view after another. Photos don't do it justice, but here are a few. We stopped for an early dinner at the Samoa Cookhouse near Eureka on our return...see "Favorites" for more on that! We'd return for breakfast tomorrow, but I don't think our stomachs will have recovered from tonight's binge!

March 13, 2002: Garberville, CA...it's raining, it's pouring....BUT we have a phone hookup at our site, so that makes up for it! We've been surfing the 'net day and night! We have to take advantage of times like these, because phone hookups at our site are rare. We have been able to take advantage of some brief breaks in the showers to see the Avenue of the Giants, but have otherwise stayed around the RV park. (Well, Chris did manage a quick 9 holes yesterday when it cleared a bit.) Here's the latest from the Redwood Country:

Photos: L-R: (Click on the thumbnails) Look carefully in the first photo above and you'll see Chris in the middle of the forest; Chris crossing the river on a downed redwood to go see The Giant that was on the other side...the bridge had washed out, so this was the only way to do it; our Jeep almost making it through the tree; to see the scale of these trees you HAVE to have a person in the photo, however it helps if the photographer can get it in focus...oh, well, what do you do when you have to work with the second string photographer? Our site for these few days...you can't see them, but there are a lot of flowering cherry trees all around and the tree next to us is just ready to burst into bloom. We see deer and wild turkeys around here. The last photo is the Avenue of the Giants. Impressive.

March 9, 2002: Willits, CA: We drove to Willits on Friday, via Napa Valley which was gorgeous in its early Springtime Green. The cherry trees were flowering and daffodils were up. The day was a lovely, sunny day...nice day to travel through scenic countryside. We arrived in our campground in time to go for a short hike throughout the hills. We saw a female elk who was hanging around a horse barn...seemed to be trying to make friends with the horse! We saw some deer too, but that was all. Today, we hurried (as much as one can via a twisty, hilly, road) to the Mendocino coast. We were able to see a lot before the rains started to come down, but we still had an enjoyable time eating fried clams overlooking some California sea lions playing in the water below. The coast drive is as spectacular as everyone said, but we were very glad we did it all in the Jeep and left the RV back at the campground. The weather deteriorated in the afternoon and we safely made it back home through fog, wind, rain, etc. Nice to be cozy in the rig tonight and hear the rain outside. It's supposed to be raining tomorrow morning, too, but might clear for the afternoon.

(Photos above: Chris with local Llama in the campground, Mendocino coastline, Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, Mendocino, hillside at our campground in the fog)

March 6, 2002: Lodi, CA This is a shot of Chris doing his usual chore of washing the windshield at our stop at the Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield, CA on Monday evening. Unfortunately, all the oranges had been picked...otherwise the park owners allow you to pick all the oranges you want and even loan you a picker! The orange blossoms looked like they will be blooming in about a week or two...then it should smell delightful! But there will probably be loads of bees, too!

Monday we drove from Palm Desert to Bakersfield via the Tehachapi Pass which was a place we had not driven. It was a beautiful high valley that is just to the east of Bakersfield. We then drove through the San Joaquin Valley via Route 99 all yesterday which was filled with all kinds of flowering nut trees...almond, pistachio, etc....Gorgeous! However, we've elected to stay over in Lodi for a few days while the rains come down...no point in leaving, since we have plenty of time and there are plenty of things to do here. Loads of wineries in the area! We've even found that Jelly Belly candies are made nearby and have a tour! Hmmmm.....