Blog #3 - Mid-July 2016 Post from Cape Lookout State Park

Dogs....Subarus....Oregonians

• It appears....Oregonians take their dogs everywhere...although we haven't seen them in church, yet.  Speaking of dogs, we miss our beloved Beagle, Bailey.  He only owned us for 8 months and it was so unexpected when he was paralyzed instantly last week. The vet told us that Central Nervous System failure isn't uncommon with Beagles...may be the breeding, etc. He was a 14 incher and seemed so healthy.  Last Friday, [our work Monday], we said our tearful good byes to Bailey in the morning and God provided us with a bunch of camper dogs that afternoon who were friendly and lovable.

• Oregonians have been very friendly to us...we have younger generation Oregonians who chat with us, children who are polite but are maniac bike riders at an early age, clerks who carry on conversations, etc.  Our vet came up to us in the Produce section of Safeway on Sunday and expressed his condolences and chatted.  Small towns have their advantages. Oregonian official car?   I would say that here at Cape Lookout, every third or fourth camper has a Subaru.  As many of you know, we traded our Forester in on our 2011 Ford 250 Super Duty so that we could tow our 5th Wheel.  But if we ever need another car...

• Weather doesn't seem to bother Oregonians...they love doing outdoor stuff, even the kids.  They all wear shorts and put on a sweatshirt if needed.  It rarely gets above 70 degrees here on the coast.  Yesterday, we were blessed by Oregon's liquid sunshine...an extremely fine mist off the ocean. We had to protect our wood with a tarp but still sold a bunch of bundles.

• Andrea and I will journey back up to Astoria on Thursday...we took Ed & Edie up there, but there's more to see like their 1st class museum.  And, we can hit Wally World up if needed.  Tomorrow, Wednesday, we will get together with some of our fellow hosts and have a potluck/barbecue.  We hosted a campfire party last Wednesday and enjoyed smores, snacks and stories.

Blog #2 [Late June 2016] - Update on our RV life

• We are often asked if we are full-time RV'ers and usually the second question is "how long have you been full timers?"  Well, technically, 18 months. We moved into our 36' Montana in February, 2015 and then into our current Jayco North Point in late February 2016 after our Montana was totaled by a tree limb on 12.13.15. We learn that many folks like us love this lifestyle and either are envious or are seriously contemplating a similar lifestyle.  More on this subject in following blogs.

• We have been at Cape Lookout State Park, west of Tillamook, Oregon, for almost three months.  In April and May, we were hosts at Cape Meares Lighthouse...about 10 miles north of our camp site.  In June, our hosting position changed to cleaning yurts [tent cabins] and cabins. We had planned to take July off to visit the Seattle area, but our Ranger asked us to stay and sell wood...someone scheduled had to cancel due to health. We agreed, and are enjoying driving around this large Oregon coast campground, offering campers a toot on the horn, a smile and wave, a bundle of firewood and fire starter.  We usually make three complete rounds between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., and have the luxury to pop into our site to pet Bailey and feed ourselves.  Next month we will move to Cascadia State Park just east of Sweet Home, Oregon.  It is a small, 25 site park with no reservations.  We will supplement the ranger as campground hosts...assigning sites, cleaning sites, selling wood, etc.  Then, we will return here to host the lighthouse again in October.  We plan to return to Sacramento in late October for appointments.

• Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of our life:

Andrea & Bailey

Cape Meares Lighthouse

Andrea hosting the
 lighthouse gift shop

Ed & Edie visited
 in mid-June

Blog #1- April 19 Posting from Cape Lookout State Park

• Greetings from the beautiful Oregon coast!  We left the Sacramento area on Saturday, April 9th.  Had a great visit with Brenda and Bob Kearns on their small farm in Anderson...south of Redding.  Brenda and Andrea were classmates at Corona HS. Brenda  attended the small church where I played the piano back in the early 60's. The Kearns grow veggies and fruit for the Redding area farmers markets.  We took a nice ride with them and popped in to see Jerry and Jeanetta Trotter who live in Montgomery Creek.  Two days later we arrived in Newport, Oregon and had dinner with Carl Sahlin overlooking the beach.  I served with Jerry and Carl at El Camino Baptist for many years so it was a pleasure to touch bases with them!
• We worked our first three days this past weekend, learning our jobs and trying to stay cool in the very hot lighthouse.  We have a 30 minute drive from our campsite to the lighthouse and have to open at 11 am.  We close the doors at 4 and arrive back at Cape Lookout at 5:30.  We had 260+ visitors on Sunday!
• Most of you know we adopted a boy in November...his name is Bailey and he's a Beagle, about 9-10 years old. I often call him "Bagel" for short.  He's a typical hound dog who gets on scent and takes off like a rocket!  Last evening he was off leash on the beach.  I had to run a huge circle to get around him and corral him back to Andrea.  Both of us were panting...slightly, of course, but I won!  He slept like a baby last night...
• Our new 40' Jayco Northstar is almost perfect.  Most of you are probably aware that our Montana was totaled in January.  In early December, a limb broke off an adjacent tree and came through the roof. We were immediately homeless, but were graciously taken in by Diana and Bob and our grandsons for about five weeks. Dick & Mary Jane Roberts, our friends of 42 years, then blessed us with their motorhome until we were able to move into our new fiver in late February.  You might be wondering about the above "almost perfect"...well, our first ding to the new Jayco happened down the road in Lincoln City when I tried to squeeze into a gas station that wasn't receptive to a 40' RV...oh well, it had to happen and I learned a good lesson.

Until next post...

David & Andrea