A stormy visit to the Oregon Coast

On Monday Nov 6th I braved the Portland rush hour traffic to pick Kate up

at PDX.   She was returning from a week visiting her Brother & friends on

the east coast.

Then Tuesday morning it was wheels up after 5+ weeks in McMinville.

Our destination for the next 12 days was the

Winchester Bay RV Resort.

Its in Winchester Bay (or Reedsport) Oregon.

The map below shows our 160 mile route.

McMinnville to Reedsport, Or

Taking Oregon Route 18 west from McMinnville, we crossed thru the Coast Range

and enjoyed the quickly dwindling remnants of the Fall Colors

Oregon 18 thru the Coast Range

Then it was south about a hundred miles or so on US 101 along the coast.

We were lucky in that our travel day was dry.

It had been raining for several days before, and has been raining on and off since.

Winchester Bay RV Resort Entrance

The park is quite pretty.

50amp full hookups with waterfront sites on the Umpqua River right where it

empties into the Pacific Ocean.

From our perch here we can watch the waves breaking over the breakwater about

1/2 mile directly in front of us.

Site 59 Winchester Bay RV Resort

A 2 mile walking path winds around the perimeter. 

The Park is on a peninsula.   On one side the ocean, and the other the Marina.

Our side is just beyond the far tree.

We took advantage of dry weather to let the Doodles stretch their legs, 

and stopped to admire this interesting bench.

The stormy conditions made for an interesting sunset one night.

Oregon Coast Sunset

The beach is being pounded by the large storm waves.

Storm Waves - Oregon Coast Reedsport

We are at the northern limit of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.

Its a big ATV area with miles of wide open beach and huge dunes.

Oregon Dunes NRA

Right on top of the hill next to the park is The Umpqua River Lighthouse.

Umpqua River Lighhouse

The Marina is also the base of the Umpqua Coast Guard Station.

We have enjoyed watching them practice thier operations.

One night they were dropping rescue swimmers right in front of the Bus and

retrieving them.

It was pretty cool watching the big helicopter hovering in the blackness, 

not more than 50-100 yds from where we are parked.

While in McMinnville, in addition to a new stove top and over the range microwave,

I surprised Kate with a new expresso maker.

After totaling up our annual cost of Nespresso pods, I decided that it was time to

break down and get a super-automatic machine.

A years worth of pods just about pays for our Jura E8.

Jura E8 Superautomatic

Maybe I need to break my coffee roaster back out of storage and start roasting again.

Meanwhile Kate has started the Christmas season.

Ho Ho Ho!

We are here in Reedsport (or Winchester Bay - what ever they call it) for another week.

The weather is supposed to get extreme starting tonight with 40 mph winds and gusts

to 60mph.   It will be pretty much from the front of the bus so that should help mitigate

the effects, but I might pull in the slides none the less.

Meanwhile we've been nursing a sick Doodle.

While in McMinnville we had vet appointments for both dogs, with annual vaccines.

Then - a week later - in preparation for our trip to Europe on the Queen Mary in May,

I had new euro - microchips inserted in them,  followed by rabies shots.

Even though they were not due for the Rabies shots - it is required by the UK and

I had to have it all done now to get our paperwork started.

Gracie has not taken well to all of this.

She had been limping and unable to bend over to eat or drink.

I had to hold her plate up to her mouth for several days.

That was solved by time and some anti -inflammatory medicine (Meloxicam)

but now she has a stomach and digestive upset going on,

so she is back on a rice and boiled chop meat diet for a few days.

The poor dog has not been herself for almost 2 weeks.
(she's not even barking at all the animals on TV)

Hopefully she will bounce back soon from this.

Till then we'll make sure she gets plenty of rest.

Gracie Doodle