Jeff sent me an email one day a couple of months ago saying that he had the itch to get back into Amateur Radio, and has done so in a big way. We are radioing each other every day, just like we did when you were kids and first got our ham licences (1963). I've been busy putting up antennas. The parks are fine with it, as they understand the valuable contribution that hams have always made in times of urgent need and emergencies when communications by any other means have been very difficult or impossible. Of course the daily activities of the hams are always very interesting and productive.

We've been through a couple of really significant storms in the last few days. It is said to be quite unusual weather for this time of the year, but out here on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, it seems like normal stuff to me. And right now it's sunny bright. It doesn't take much sun for me to forget all about the rain.

Gee... maybe I'll do this again. I might even have enought ambition to post some pictures.

Anyway, I'm here in the great rainy northwest of Oregon. Been here since the begining of November. And I'm not long from moving on again to Sunset Bay State Park, which is located about 12 miles sorta' southwest of Coos Bay - right on the ocean. Fort Stevens (here) is a great place, with lot of very tall trees between us and the ocean shore. It is the largest public (county, state, national) campground west of the Mississippi River. I'm a Yurt host again. I haven't had to clean yurts since March.

Since leaving La Grand and Hilguard Junction park, I have been 2 months near Bend, Or at Cove Palisades State Park, and two months at Clyde Holliday State Park, near John Day, OR, in the eastern section. Both of those places were good for me. "The Cove" was very busy with boaters, tent campers, kids, dogs, rowdys, etc., and Clyde Holliday (yes, the correct spelling) was quiet with very polite and respectable overnighters in their RVs. So this has turned out to be a wonderful variety of campgrounds, scenery, types of duties, and lots of different people.

I have put up pictures in the gallery section, but here is a couple that really need to be viewed here.

So, just for now, I've got to go clean a few yurts. I'll come back and add some more - and put up more pictures in the gallery.

SLFN - Brian

I'm at Hilgard Junction State Park about 8 miles west of La Grande, Oregon. It's a nice little park and I'm the only host person onsite. And, there have been very few campers so far in the first week and a half. I'm storing up energy, ambition, and people patience. The next place I go is Cove Palisades park which is a boaters Mecca. I understand they need a lot of supervision and drink and party quite a bit. Maybe I better leave my whip with someone else.

La Grande is a nice town. It's big enough to have good shopping, a neat old downtown area, and it's right close by. I'm taking the motorhome in to a muffler shop there and having a couple of extra glass pack mufflers installed before the existing mufflers. They're too noisy and I was told that this would quiet the thing down quite a lot and not loose any power. It's a cheap fix for what I had done before with the exhaust. The Magnaflow mufflers and the three inch exhaust pipes I had put on back in Yakima, really did make it a lot more peppy, but now it sounds like a Harley Davidson. (That's right... I said it.) It just doesn't sound right considering it's pulling a nice quiet Goldwing - a real motorcycle. (Ya!)

Having the motorcycle along on its trailer is great. I still wish I could drive it on and off the trailer by myself, but so far I've found someone to help me load or unload everytime without having to wait long. The hardest part about using the trailer behind the motorhome is trying to back the darn thing. I can't see it when I do - and that big overhang behind the motorhome's rear wheels doesn't help at all. Actually though, I have discovered that if I put the bike's antennas back up, I can see them in my rearview mirror (back through the inside and out the rear window). I'm thinking about getting some kind of ribbon and clip that I can attach to the antennas so they're more visible.

I miss everybody back home (sort of). Cellphone reception is poor here also, so I leave the phone off most of the time. At least I don't get woke up durning the night with someone asking for somebody I don't know. I bought an outside antenna and a booster amplifier for the phone and the internet card. It works ok, and keeps me from watching the TV all the rest of the time I'm not outside driving my cart around trying to look important - or busy.

Ok! I have to make up some new picture galleries. I have lots to put up on the website. The connection is slow for uploading, but it seems reliable enough to just get it started and do something else.  Later.

Good ol' Brian

 I have lots of pictures to post and was quite busy in April as well. Perhaps when I get my next days off, I'll go into town and find a signal to work with.

 More later.

I opened the door to take these pictues and the hail got all the way into the sofa. And... just after I got the door closed -- KABOOM!!!!  It raised the hair on the back of my shins.

I'm not making much money. Just what I find. I found this sand fifty cent on the beach a few days ago. I was following dog tracks. There's been lots of wind and big waves lately. Wow, today there was snow flakes coming down with the rain and there's supposed to be lots of snow building up over the next day or two - especially in the hills around here above 500 feet. And yet my daffodils are out. As I look out the window of my rockin' and rollin' motohome (windy day again, today), the dafs are the only bright spot out there. Even the worms are pinching their noses and holding up fingers. Oh... it's not all that bad. I had the top of the Miata down again the other day.

I'm headed back to Yakima if a few days - end of the month. Then it's off to Mount Vernon to play organ music to accompany the showing of a silent movie at the Lincoln Theatre. The Lincoln is one of only 5 theatres in Washington state which still has its original theatre organ - another story for another time. I'm planning on either loading up the Scooter to take with me next time, or getting a trailer to pull the Goldwing along. Still thinking about all that. But It'll be good to see home again, if only for a few days.

So, every day connects to the next one, and so on and so forth, etc. I hate the price of gas. I'm doing my part to try to keep it down by not driving so much. If everyone would do something like it, the overall consumption would drop a lot and so would the price. Then I climb behind the wheel of my motorhome - dragging the car - which gets 6.5 miles per gallon and -- oh don't get me started.

I made barbeque sauce today. Let me tell you that cooking something with vinegar in it - for an hour, sure makes the house smell bad for a while. Now I'm thinking about the steak or patty I'm going to have for dinner. Gotta go cook.

Brian (J. R.)

My new digs (RV host space) is different from my January spot. It's just a bit further out and really close to trees on one side and the back. It's fine. Yesterday, when I pulled in, I noticed a really big (really pretty) and almost new Holiday Rambler motorhome parked next to me. Then a little later a mid 90's Holiday Rambler pulled in next to that one. With my Holiday Rambler being somewhat older than those, it looked like an exhibit of the evolution of Holiday Rambler motorhomes. I've yet to feel ashamed of mine because of its age. It's condition and the way I keep it up keeps me from that. Don't think I'm not looking at those other rigs without imagining myself in the drivers seat or polishing it up. Leapin' lizzards, the big one must be twice as tall and have about three times the surface area to shine. I'm ok now.

I'm still having a blast out here. All my apprehensions about being too far from friends and family - and being lonesome - have gone away. The Internet really does help keep us together and closer. The cell phone, on the other hand, just makes me poorer. I'm in, what I call, extreme roaming area down here on the Oregon Coast. With just a little bit of talking, my last cell bill was shocking. I get high roaming charges, even when someone calls ME. Fooey! So, I thank everyone who hasn't called me lately. You know who you are.

Gotta meeting in a few minutes - orientation - so I better get up and going (with my unbrella).

Toodles

Soon enough I'll be going back to Newhalem Bay State Park for the month of March. Nothing new there. The spring breakers will be coming in and that will either make for some nicely busy days or some really aggrivating ones. Who knows. In April I'll be traveling back up to Yakima and to Mt. Vernon, WA for a few days - where I'll be playing the Wurlitzer theatre organ at the Lincoln Theatre for a silent movie and short concert. It is some kind of celebration of the theatre during the month of the Tulip Festival there in the Skagit Valley. I'll enjoy that a lot. And after that, an Oregon Stater Parks volunteer's gathering in Salem near the end of the month. I'm looking forward to that also.

The weather here on the Oregon coast has been so good lately, I've been able to put the top of the Miata down three days in a week. I saw a Honda GL1800 Goldwing yesterday. I sure miss mine. Gotta find a way to trailer it with me - probably by the time I leave for Humbug Mountain State Park for the month of May. Maybe.

It's getting dark and there is going to be a full Lunar Elcipse tonight which will be visible as the moon appears. Let me go see if it's out there now.

Bye....

Yes, I'm here at my new digs in Newport, OR. Actually it's called South Beach. Look at a map, you'll see. The park is about the same as the Nehalem one - just a few more yurts. But less customers for some reason. The crushing workload doesn't at all compare to the crushing slacktime. That's retirement, I guess. This place has a nice little hospitality center. The other hosts gather more because of it and that seems to bind us together better.  

The wind blows a little, then it rains a little - then it rains hard, blows hard, starts hailing, a bit of sunshine. My satellite TV dish blew over a couple of nites ago. It was well anchored but with all the trees that I've seen blown down, I'm not surprised. This one did miss the RV next to it, but you see what I mean.

I get my own little cart and can buzz around anyplace I like. I kinda wish I had some golf clubs now. I might be more likely to take out RV windows. I tried to golf once, years ago. It was truely the most exasperating thing I ever tried to do. (Well, except for bowling, perhaps.) There's a major wine and fish festival coming up in a couple of weeks. All the yurts, and all the long RV spaces are already reserved. They are going to tidy up and open up the entire park - more than 200 spaces. That'll be something, I'm sure.

 Gotta go check things out up front - see if I have a yurt to clean.

 Bye......

 We had quite a bit of hail and quite "stiff" snow here last night. Quite a bit for here, that is. And although there is bright sun out now, it is forecast to snow more, rain more, and blow hard tonight. We had 2 paying guests in the whole park last night. Any which way one would try to "get outa town," the going would have been pretty tedious last night and this morning. The highways going away from here have hills which would have been almost unpassable. What we got last night was quite an icy mix. So here I am.

My park duties (chores) are light and occupy my time in a fun and interesting way. Yurt cleaning is still just a nice past-time. I had to do 4 yesterday - took me all of about 40 minutes, part of which was me standing around waiting for someone to turn in a key and drive away. I've been assigned to go down to the day-use area which is on the bay (look at a map). The December wind storm blew up a massive amount of driftwood onto the beaches and the boat launching ramp. I have brought up some for firewood a couple of times, but only had the inclination and stamina to sit out at a fire once. (Sure wish I had an inside fireplace) I have a big pile of wood sitting just outside, but I have a feeling I'll be leaving it behind- fooey! I get 2 bundles a month gratis, and all the driftwood I can drive up in my little cart. Maybe I should get a DVD of a fireplace.

I need to remember to get some bird seed for the birds. (a seagull outside there just reminded me that I have been thinking about doing that.) There's some funny little birds that stand around and bore holes in the ground. I suppose they're eating insects,  but it sure looks interesting when they leave. I couldn't figure out what was making those holes at first. And, there's a couple of deer families living here. They don't seem very concerned about me walking up close and doing the papparazzi (sp?) thing.  Yesterday, someone left a note in one of the yurts which said that we should post a sign warning guests about the raccoons. Seems they left their bright colored ice chest - full of food - outside for the night, and that the raccoons got into it and ate everything. Go figure!

Next entry from Newport, I suppose. Toodleoo.

Brian