Monday, January 21, 2008
Thanks to a truly good friend for all his help.
I want to take this time to thank a truly good friend Randy, for all his great help with getting us started devloping this Blog. You can check his Blog site at http://rowings.blogspot.com/ One thing about Randy is he tells it like it is, and he is a great writer. Thanks again Randy for helping us develope our Blog. We're looking forward in the future to keep our post's current....Hope you enjoy.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Our September 2007 Trip to Oregon
For years we have thought about getting out of California, especially Lassen County after we retired. The winters here are super cold, icy, windy and just out right miserable for seniors, especially when you have to drive 70 miles to get to a decent doctor or hospital. The summers are short, sometimes very hot & you can count on wind almost every day. Even in the summer the evenings are to cool to enjoy setting outside after sundown. The elevation here is around 4,200 feet and since Tom developed COPD he has had a hard time breathing, sometimes even with his oxygen on. Breathing in the super cold air is really tough on him. So we decided to take a trip to Oregon just to see how much better he did there, and also check out the weather, fishing, crabbing, clamming and even see what the housing market was doing there. Of course We (especially Tom) enjoyed the fishing, crabbing and clamming. And oh, don't forget all the great seafood restaurants. We didn't take much time to look at any property while we were there, but, have been doing a lot of that via Internet since we got home.
In September of 2007 we left via motor home and headed for Coquille Oregon. The following is the daily log of out trip:
September 5, 2007
After picking up, putting away and cleaning our decks to prepare our home so we could leave for vacation the fire near Westwood decided to send smoke and ash our way. Everything that had been cleaned is now covered with ash and chunks of burnt bark and pine needles. We had planned to leave sometime in the morning hours, but between having to now wash the truck, car and motor home we are running behind. The motor home starting battery was dead due to I don’t know what, but thank goodness there is a switch which engages the auxiliary batteries and the coach started right up.
By the time we finally got away it was after 1:00 pm. Tom took the pickup to the dump to have it weighed, while I drove the motor home to Lassen Transfer Storage to have it weighed. The Nissan weighed out fully loaded at 4800, after taking away passenger weight. The RV front weighed out at 3980, the back at 9880 and total weight at 13,860. By the time we left Lassen Transfer Storage it was almost 2:00 pm. We filled up the RV with gas in Alturas and arrived in Klamath Falls at 7:00 pm where we spent our first night at the Klamath Falls Fairgrounds. Space rent here pretty cheap here. We paid $12.00 for space, electric and water.
Would suggest next time anyone stays there to bring there own drinking water. Terrible stuff.
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September 6, 2007
We left Klamath Falls about 10:00 am. We called Jenny from here to let her know we were heading their way and to find out if they were going to be home. Jenny stated that they lived on a dead end street and that we would have no place to turn around with our RV. Our next gasoline stop was in Myrtle Creek and we arrived at Roseburg about 2:00. We located the fairgrounds in Roseburg and gave Don & Jenny another call to let them know we were there. Don told Tom we would be able to drive, and get out of their street. What a farce that was. When we located their home it was not only on a dead end street, but also on a steep hill. We parked in front of their house and visited with them for about 2 - 3 hours. Sorry to say, I didn’t enjoy the visit very much, because I was worrying the whole time we were there about how we were going to get our RV and pickup back out of there. We couldn't unhook the pickup due to the steep incline and there’s not enough room to make a U-turn.
Even though you are not supposed to back up with the vehicle on the back of the RV, but that is exactly what we had to do. There was a drive way across from their house that went into an Arbys, so the RV, pickup and all had to be backed up about 30 feet or so to make it into the drive way. Barely made it. What a relief. Don’t think we will listen to Don again!!!
We arrived in Coquille Oregon at 7:15 and spent our second night in Oregon at an RV Park in Coquille. Too late to find Alma and Ed’s place tonight. Real nice Rv Park full hook up including TV electric, sewer $20.00 per night. The name of the park is Rivers Edge RV Park. It borders right up to the Coquille River. It states they have 24 full time sites but I think there is more than that.
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September 7, 2007
After calling Alma and Ed (Alma is my double cousin) to get instructions to their home we found them with no problem and had the RV backed in almost before they knew we were there. It is foggy this morning, but lifted around 10:00 am.
Their home is located on a hill with a beautiful view. They have 10 aces which are way too much for Helen & I. Would be hard to keep up. The have a great orchard with almost all the fruit you could think of mainly apples though. Lots of deer running around there property.
Thanks to Alma had a great dinner of pork chops with all the fixings?
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September 8, 2007
After sitting around visiting and walking around Alma and Eds property all day we had a real nice dinner again. It was some type of goulash I think. She made it with a London broil, which is cut into smaller chunks and marinated in a red good wine, then cooked slowly all day. Real tender. Kind of reminds me of my Sou pas. I think Helen got the recipe, at least I hope she did.
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September 9, 2007
Ed drove us to Coos Bay, Charleston and North Bay today. Showed us the most important parts of Charleston as well as other scenic places. Took us to a real great visitor center where they gave us lots of information on crabbing fishing and the general area. Sure appreciated all the help Ed gave us on the information we needed. Will be leaving Ed’s house tomorrow on our way to Coos Bay or should I say Charleston.
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September 10, 2007
Left Alma & Ed's house after a real good breakfast. She made French toast with French bread and left over ham. The french toast had chopped pecans and blueberries in them. I think she baked them. Real rich, plus she had some fresh blueberries in a bowl as well as fresh strawberries. With some left over Ham. Ate 3 or 4 they were out of this world. Got the recipe I hope. Not sure what time we left, but it was early enough in the afternoon to take our time.
Pretty much spent the entire day looking the area over. Thankful Ed gave us a tour of the town before we came down here. It gave us a good idea where things were. We stopped at a gas station to get propane, which was quit reasonable considering the cost in California. Think it was around $2.30 or so a gallon. Our gauge on the motor home read less then a half, which is wrong as we found out. It only took 4 gallons to fill the tank up. Their electronic light gauges on motor homes are real funky, can’t go by what they say. I guess as you travel more you get to know what you need and don't go by the gauges.
Naturally we bottomed out again with the motor home when we left the gas station. What a pain. Will need to get something to stop this bottoming out, or at least help to avoid some of the dragging we do when we leave or go into a drive way.
In September of 2007 we left via motor home and headed for Coquille Oregon. The following is the daily log of out trip:September 5, 2007
After picking up, putting away and cleaning our decks to prepare our home so we could leave for vacation the fire near Westwood decided to send smoke and ash our way. Everything that had been cleaned is now covered with ash and chunks of burnt bark and pine needles. We had planned to leave sometime in the morning hours, but between having to now wash the truck, car and motor home we are running behind. The motor home starting battery was dead due to I don’t know what, but thank goodness there is a switch which engages the auxiliary batteries and the coach started right up.
By the time we finally got away it was after 1:00 pm. Tom took the pickup to the dump to have it weighed, while I drove the motor home to Lassen Transfer Storage to have it weighed. The Nissan weighed out fully loaded at 4800, after taking away passenger weight. The RV front weighed out at 3980, the back at 9880 and total weight at 13,860. By the time we left Lassen Transfer Storage it was almost 2:00 pm. We filled up the RV with gas in Alturas and arrived in Klamath Falls at 7:00 pm where we spent our first night at the Klamath Falls Fairgrounds. Space rent here pretty cheap here. We paid $12.00 for space, electric and water.
Would suggest next time anyone stays there to bring there own drinking water. Terrible stuff.
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September 6, 2007
We left Klamath Falls about 10:00 am. We called Jenny from here to let her know we were heading their way and to find out if they were going to be home. Jenny stated that they lived on a dead end street and that we would have no place to turn around with our RV. Our next gasoline stop was in Myrtle Creek and we arrived at Roseburg about 2:00. We located the fairgrounds in Roseburg and gave Don & Jenny another call to let them know we were there. Don told Tom we would be able to drive, and get out of their street. What a farce that was. When we located their home it was not only on a dead end street, but also on a steep hill. We parked in front of their house and visited with them for about 2 - 3 hours. Sorry to say, I didn’t enjoy the visit very much, because I was worrying the whole time we were there about how we were going to get our RV and pickup back out of there. We couldn't unhook the pickup due to the steep incline and there’s not enough room to make a U-turn.
Even though you are not supposed to back up with the vehicle on the back of the RV, but that is exactly what we had to do. There was a drive way across from their house that went into an Arbys, so the RV, pickup and all had to be backed up about 30 feet or so to make it into the drive way. Barely made it. What a relief. Don’t think we will listen to Don again!!!
We arrived in Coquille Oregon at 7:15 and spent our second night in Oregon at an RV Park in Coquille. Too late to find Alma and Ed’s place tonight. Real nice Rv Park full hook up including TV electric, sewer $20.00 per night. The name of the park is Rivers Edge RV Park. It borders right up to the Coquille River. It states they have 24 full time sites but I think there is more than that.
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September 7, 2007
After calling Alma and Ed (Alma is my double cousin) to get instructions to their home we found them with no problem and had the RV backed in almost before they knew we were there. It is foggy this morning, but lifted around 10:00 am.
Their home is located on a hill with a beautiful view. They have 10 aces which are way too much for Helen & I. Would be hard to keep up. The have a great orchard with almost all the fruit you could think of mainly apples though. Lots of deer running around there property.
Thanks to Alma had a great dinner of pork chops with all the fixings?
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September 8, 2007
After sitting around visiting and walking around Alma and Eds property all day we had a real nice dinner again. It was some type of goulash I think. She made it with a London broil, which is cut into smaller chunks and marinated in a red good wine, then cooked slowly all day. Real tender. Kind of reminds me of my Sou pas. I think Helen got the recipe, at least I hope she did.
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September 9, 2007
Ed drove us to Coos Bay, Charleston and North Bay today. Showed us the most important parts of Charleston as well as other scenic places. Took us to a real great visitor center where they gave us lots of information on crabbing fishing and the general area. Sure appreciated all the help Ed gave us on the information we needed. Will be leaving Ed’s house tomorrow on our way to Coos Bay or should I say Charleston.
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September 10, 2007
Left Alma & Ed's house after a real good breakfast. She made French toast with French bread and left over ham. The french toast had chopped pecans and blueberries in them. I think she baked them. Real rich, plus she had some fresh blueberries in a bowl as well as fresh strawberries. With some left over Ham. Ate 3 or 4 they were out of this world. Got the recipe I hope. Not sure what time we left, but it was early enough in the afternoon to take our time.
Pretty much spent the entire day looking the area over. Thankful Ed gave us a tour of the town before we came down here. It gave us a good idea where things were. We stopped at a gas station to get propane, which was quit reasonable considering the cost in California. Think it was around $2.30 or so a gallon. Our gauge on the motor home read less then a half, which is wrong as we found out. It only took 4 gallons to fill the tank up. Their electronic light gauges on motor homes are real funky, can’t go by what they say. I guess as you travel more you get to know what you need and don't go by the gauges.
Naturally we bottomed out again with the motor home when we left the gas station. What a pain. Will need to get something to stop this bottoming out, or at least help to avoid some of the dragging we do when we leave or go into a drive way.
Our Campsite at Bastendorff Co. Park
The RV parks are all pretty much full in this area. Amazing to see all the RVS in Oregon. Looks like everybody’s sister has one and is traveling somewhere. Most RVs we saw, believe it or not were from Oregon. Lots from California and some from British Columbia. We stayed our first night at Bastendorff County RV Park. Really nice, but a little costly. Weather is nice so far. Not hot, but not cold either. Overcast in the morning, but clears up in the afternoons.
Bastendorff Beach Below the Camp Ground
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September 11, 2007
Went down to the Charlston marina and walked out on some of the docks watching people crab. They were doing pretty good. Ran into one guy looks like he had quite a few crabs and was cleaning them. Not used to the way they clean crabs up here. I was always under the belief you put the whole crab in the boiling water alive with the salt water. The guys split the craps in half and hand clean them first. Then they put them into the boiling hot water. Makes sense to me.
Talked to the Park Ranger and was concerned about staying in this nice area on top of the hill since it was for reservations only like large parties. He told me don’t worry that they had no more reservations or bookings for the near future. Great site, lots of sun and your somewhat protected by the trees from the wind. We get around 8 to 10 channels on our TV and the Cell phone works OK. Will look at this area again next time, just wish they would have had sewer hook ups too. Oh well can’t have everything.
Found out if you’re a veteran you can get 10 days free stay in any county campground in Coos County. Nice feature for those that deserve it. I don’t think it applies to state campgrounds, but I may be wrong about that. One person that is a vet told me he got 5 days free. Great for those that surely deserves it.
We have found there are only two areas in Charleston that offer free WI-FI.They are both located near the Library.
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September 13, 2007
Went Crabbing today for the first time. Got to Charleston around 11:00 am. Overcast with slight sprinkle around 2:00 or 3:00. Not much, but enough to keep it cool. No sun except when we got back to camp around 5:00 pm. Only caught one Rock crab. A young couple gave us two more. Not much to them, but its a beginning. We did catch a lot of Dungeness crabs, but they were under size, some of them only a ¼ inch under. Frustrating. Used Chicken for bait worked pretty good. Of course not for us though. Interesting when you have to take the crabs out of the traps the little buggers are kind of tricky. Naturally I was hesitant to remove them by hand since I had a bad experience several years ago. Now as for Helen, she is a true crabber. She got in there and removed them like an old pro. The trick is to catch them by their back two legs. That way they can’t get you with their front claws.
Helen is one of the best wife’s anyone could ask for. She is so thoughtful and considerate. She carried all the chairs down to the pier and back several times. You could not find a better wife that’s why I love her so much...
My breathing seems better down here I have found myself being able to walk further and use less oxygen. Going to see if Lincare can give me an oxygen test to see what my O2 level is down here.
September 11, 2007
Went down to the Charlston marina and walked out on some of the docks watching people crab. They were doing pretty good. Ran into one guy looks like he had quite a few crabs and was cleaning them. Not used to the way they clean crabs up here. I was always under the belief you put the whole crab in the boiling water alive with the salt water. The guys split the craps in half and hand clean them first. Then they put them into the boiling hot water. Makes sense to me.
Talked to the Park Ranger and was concerned about staying in this nice area on top of the hill since it was for reservations only like large parties. He told me don’t worry that they had no more reservations or bookings for the near future. Great site, lots of sun and your somewhat protected by the trees from the wind. We get around 8 to 10 channels on our TV and the Cell phone works OK. Will look at this area again next time, just wish they would have had sewer hook ups too. Oh well can’t have everything.
Found out if you’re a veteran you can get 10 days free stay in any county campground in Coos County. Nice feature for those that deserve it. I don’t think it applies to state campgrounds, but I may be wrong about that. One person that is a vet told me he got 5 days free. Great for those that surely deserves it.
We have found there are only two areas in Charleston that offer free WI-FI.They are both located near the Library.
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September 13, 2007
Went Crabbing today for the first time. Got to Charleston around 11:00 am. Overcast with slight sprinkle around 2:00 or 3:00. Not much, but enough to keep it cool. No sun except when we got back to camp around 5:00 pm. Only caught one Rock crab. A young couple gave us two more. Not much to them, but its a beginning. We did catch a lot of Dungeness crabs, but they were under size, some of them only a ¼ inch under. Frustrating. Used Chicken for bait worked pretty good. Of course not for us though. Interesting when you have to take the crabs out of the traps the little buggers are kind of tricky. Naturally I was hesitant to remove them by hand since I had a bad experience several years ago. Now as for Helen, she is a true crabber. She got in there and removed them like an old pro. The trick is to catch them by their back two legs. That way they can’t get you with their front claws.
Helen is one of the best wife’s anyone could ask for. She is so thoughtful and considerate. She carried all the chairs down to the pier and back several times. You could not find a better wife that’s why I love her so much...
My breathing seems better down here I have found myself being able to walk further and use less oxygen. Going to see if Lincare can give me an oxygen test to see what my O2 level is down here.
Looking forward to do some more crabbing .
Neat Jellyfish by Charelston Docks
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September 14. 2007
Overcast again with a slight chance of showers. Does not look like much sun today. The temperature here is not bad, would be nice though if the sun would shine a little bit. We're going into town this morning and get some more bait and other stuff we need. North Bay and Coos Bay are nice. Will also go to the public library today to check our e-mail. Helen finally got her password again and she will read her mail.
The Campground is really nice. Its a little pricey, but real nice. $20.00 per day. We may go to a cheaper Rv Park in Charleston Harbor. Your rent for the week is cheaper, but in most cases you need a reservation .
Well today turned out beautiful full sun and a slight breeze. Tried my hand at crabbing again today after we went to the library and a couple of stores. We finally got our nets in around 2:15. First basket we lifted was full of crabs and looked promising. It appeared we have some keepers, but oh no, not with our luck only one was a keeper and naturally it was a female. So back it went The rest of the day was spottier with some time getting real close to a keeper, but always 1/4 inch short, or way too small. We crabbed until around 4:45 pm. The tide was going out so it may have not been a good time to crab. When we first got there the tide was right at high tide, maybe that was why we were getting the crabs. We talked to another couple that got some good ones earlier, however they were there earlier in the day. Got to figure this system out. Surely will get the hang of it, but may take some time.
Still have not taken out the boats so far. May have to try next week. Not sure ,but I think we would have been better off coming up with just the car or the truck without the boat. Will know more next time we come up here. It appears that you can do all your fishing, claiming and crabbing with out a boat.
This is pretty much a learning experience for both of us.
Poor Lacy is having a hard tie getting up and down from the vehicle because of her bad legs; she’s real good though big and cumbersome, but still faithful and minds real well. Again today if the weather is permitting I will have Helen drop me off and she can do other things while I crab. Like I have mentioned Helen has been supportive of me all the time and I think she caters to me a little too much. No matter what I love her.
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September 15, 2007
Up and at them again. Looking out the window it appears to be a warm sunny day. I will ask Helen, but I think it would be a good day to go to Shore Acres Park, which is a five acre botanical park. Been looking forward too see the beautiful gardens that everyone is talking about. Our campsite is only about 3 or 4 miles North of the Shore Acres Garden.
We will also attempt to head out to Arago Point to get some good shots of the seals with our video camera.
Should be a nice day for another day of relaxing and enjoying the country. So far I love it here of course really don’t know if we can personally handle the weather this close to the Pacific. I think you would have to find something further inland where you get a little more sun.
Helen stopped and walked Lacy along Sunset Cove its also real pretty. She also is pretty spunky walking in the sand.
The Gardens were beautiful. All types of Rose blooming. Event had the Rose of they ear for 2007. Fragrant as well as the rest of the roses. The Rhododendrons were really not at full bloom
I think it’s a little out of their season... They had all types of flowers that were very attractive. There was one that had the prettiest blue fruit on it don’t know the name of it, but did get a seed to see if we could get one started. The cost to get into the gardens is real cheap $3.00 per vehicle. They have a real nice visitor center that sells lots of souvenirs, but like all shops everything is real expensive.
September 14. 2007
Overcast again with a slight chance of showers. Does not look like much sun today. The temperature here is not bad, would be nice though if the sun would shine a little bit. We're going into town this morning and get some more bait and other stuff we need. North Bay and Coos Bay are nice. Will also go to the public library today to check our e-mail. Helen finally got her password again and she will read her mail.
The Campground is really nice. Its a little pricey, but real nice. $20.00 per day. We may go to a cheaper Rv Park in Charleston Harbor. Your rent for the week is cheaper, but in most cases you need a reservation .
Well today turned out beautiful full sun and a slight breeze. Tried my hand at crabbing again today after we went to the library and a couple of stores. We finally got our nets in around 2:15. First basket we lifted was full of crabs and looked promising. It appeared we have some keepers, but oh no, not with our luck only one was a keeper and naturally it was a female. So back it went The rest of the day was spottier with some time getting real close to a keeper, but always 1/4 inch short, or way too small. We crabbed until around 4:45 pm. The tide was going out so it may have not been a good time to crab. When we first got there the tide was right at high tide, maybe that was why we were getting the crabs. We talked to another couple that got some good ones earlier, however they were there earlier in the day. Got to figure this system out. Surely will get the hang of it, but may take some time.
Still have not taken out the boats so far. May have to try next week. Not sure ,but I think we would have been better off coming up with just the car or the truck without the boat. Will know more next time we come up here. It appears that you can do all your fishing, claiming and crabbing with out a boat.
This is pretty much a learning experience for both of us.
Poor Lacy is having a hard tie getting up and down from the vehicle because of her bad legs; she’s real good though big and cumbersome, but still faithful and minds real well. Again today if the weather is permitting I will have Helen drop me off and she can do other things while I crab. Like I have mentioned Helen has been supportive of me all the time and I think she caters to me a little too much. No matter what I love her.
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September 15, 2007
Up and at them again. Looking out the window it appears to be a warm sunny day. I will ask Helen, but I think it would be a good day to go to Shore Acres Park, which is a five acre botanical park. Been looking forward too see the beautiful gardens that everyone is talking about. Our campsite is only about 3 or 4 miles North of the Shore Acres Garden.
We will also attempt to head out to Arago Point to get some good shots of the seals with our video camera.
Should be a nice day for another day of relaxing and enjoying the country. So far I love it here of course really don’t know if we can personally handle the weather this close to the Pacific. I think you would have to find something further inland where you get a little more sun.
Helen stopped and walked Lacy along Sunset Cove its also real pretty. She also is pretty spunky walking in the sand.
The Gardens were beautiful. All types of Rose blooming. Event had the Rose of they ear for 2007. Fragrant as well as the rest of the roses. The Rhododendrons were really not at full bloom
I think it’s a little out of their season... They had all types of flowers that were very attractive. There was one that had the prettiest blue fruit on it don’t know the name of it, but did get a seed to see if we could get one started. The cost to get into the gardens is real cheap $3.00 per vehicle. They have a real nice visitor center that sells lots of souvenirs, but like all shops everything is real expensive.
One of the many, many flower beds at the Garden
This picture was taken at Shore Acres Park in their Rose Garden. This little fellow startled me
about as much as I startled him!!
We did get up to Argo point and got some real nice pictures and video of the seals and other animals there. Tried to get a shot of some blue whales but they were to far from us.
Argo Point
Got back to the Motor home about 2:00 or so, so decided to try and fish off the jetty below our campground about a mile form here. Used shrimp did not catch anything, used a bobber with a 2 ounce weight worked pretty good. Still did not produce any fish. One gentleman I talked to told me to take the boat out to the buoy that is red, which is number 2 or orange, which is located about 3 miles from the jetty. The game warden said that you probably would catch some Greenlings out there may have to try it Tuesday or so. One other fellow I talked to on the jetty that was Spanish told me he fishes the jetty every year and that is where he catches his salmon. Dam don’t know what the fancy is on salmon. Too fishy for me.
The jetty has a nice cement walk on top, but about 400 yards down it ends. Pretty rocky to walk on for me because of my legs. Next time I think I will go down the Jetty a little further. There is a real sandy like beach you can walk on, but even then I think it will be tough going.
Helen stayed back at the camp and cleaned the dog. She definitly needed it as the dog really has a bad smell. Used the outside shower for the first time to clean the dog seemed to work pretty good.
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September 16, 2007
Woke up a little later than usual. About 15 minutes to 7. Weather outside looks overcast with some pretty high clouds. It does not feel cold out and there is no wind. Still hesitant on weather to try crabbing again or do some fishing from the jetty
Need to pay again for our campsite today, will shoot for a couple of more days before moving down to Charleston Marina. We're going to try and make a trip up to Winchester Bay this week to see what its like. So far the weather has been pretty good for us except for just one really bad half day of rain. However, overcast most of the time. Still don’t know how these locals can walk around with shorts and short sleeves. I think it would be too cold for me. We’re going to have to plan on taking another trip up to Alma and Ed’s place. I guess she is still having some problems.
We decided to go out and try some crabbing again. Not really having much luck. Catching a lot of crabs, but again their all too small or females. The weather is not too bad right now, but looks like it will be overcast all day. Finally got one keeper Dungeness crab. Happy as can be. Got some Red Crabs that were pretty good size so kept them. Will be cooking them up today. Can’t wait.
Helen finally got pictures of a huge seal today. This big boy seems to like coming up on the dock to sleep, and likes the same dock we saw him on a couple of days ago, but didn’t have the camera with us that day.
The jetty has a nice cement walk on top, but about 400 yards down it ends. Pretty rocky to walk on for me because of my legs. Next time I think I will go down the Jetty a little further. There is a real sandy like beach you can walk on, but even then I think it will be tough going.
Helen stayed back at the camp and cleaned the dog. She definitly needed it as the dog really has a bad smell. Used the outside shower for the first time to clean the dog seemed to work pretty good.
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September 16, 2007
Woke up a little later than usual. About 15 minutes to 7. Weather outside looks overcast with some pretty high clouds. It does not feel cold out and there is no wind. Still hesitant on weather to try crabbing again or do some fishing from the jetty
Need to pay again for our campsite today, will shoot for a couple of more days before moving down to Charleston Marina. We're going to try and make a trip up to Winchester Bay this week to see what its like. So far the weather has been pretty good for us except for just one really bad half day of rain. However, overcast most of the time. Still don’t know how these locals can walk around with shorts and short sleeves. I think it would be too cold for me. We’re going to have to plan on taking another trip up to Alma and Ed’s place. I guess she is still having some problems.
We decided to go out and try some crabbing again. Not really having much luck. Catching a lot of crabs, but again their all too small or females. The weather is not too bad right now, but looks like it will be overcast all day. Finally got one keeper Dungeness crab. Happy as can be. Got some Red Crabs that were pretty good size so kept them. Will be cooking them up today. Can’t wait.
Helen finally got pictures of a huge seal today. This big boy seems to like coming up on the dock to sleep, and likes the same dock we saw him on a couple of days ago, but didn’t have the camera with us that day.
Used out outside broiler when we got back to camp to cook the crab. It worked great, added a little orange juice and the salt to the boil mix.Tasted pretty good. Of course I enjoy them so much I could eat them everyday. I wish Helen liked them as much as me but she is not much into crab that much. I will find a recipe I can use that she will love someday I hope. Got some pictures of Helen actually pulling up the crab net and getting the crabs out of the trap. She is professional now.
Made a pig of myself but could have eaten more. The Red Rock Crabs are really not as meaty as the Dungeness, In the future will just keep the Dungeness.
Was thinking out heading north tomorrow See Winchester Bay area? Prior to doing that we will have to empty out our holding tanks. Surely getting full by now. Been real well with making this last a longtime I think it’s been a week now.
I guess Tom didn't mention that I got a picutre of him also!!
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September 17, 2007
Rain and showers off and on all night, last night. Clouds broke around 9:00 am and it looks like we are going to have sunshine today!
Stopped by the Boat Ramp further up in town this one is a free boat ramp. Talked to another gentleman who was cleaning his clams. I asked him about what type of clams he was getting and he told me Washington’s? There small but look tasty. He said it’s easy to get, just by walk along the low tide line and when you stick is the shovel next to a hole clam sill squirt water. These calms are on in around 4 inches deep in the sand out of water. Helen and I will try today.
Would love to get a limit and them and get a limit on the Dungeness crabs. I know too much to ask for.
Headed up North to see Winchester Bay. Stopped by the Visitor center to get some information on where there is any winery but found out none along the coast have to go inland got a great map will try latter to find them.
September 17, 2007
Rain and showers off and on all night, last night. Clouds broke around 9:00 am and it looks like we are going to have sunshine today!
Stopped by the Boat Ramp further up in town this one is a free boat ramp. Talked to another gentleman who was cleaning his clams. I asked him about what type of clams he was getting and he told me Washington’s? There small but look tasty. He said it’s easy to get, just by walk along the low tide line and when you stick is the shovel next to a hole clam sill squirt water. These calms are on in around 4 inches deep in the sand out of water. Helen and I will try today.
Would love to get a limit and them and get a limit on the Dungeness crabs. I know too much to ask for.
Headed up North to see Winchester Bay. Stopped by the Visitor center to get some information on where there is any winery but found out none along the coast have to go inland got a great map will try latter to find them.
Little breezy this morning and it appears the bay may be a little choppy for any small boating. Beautiful sunny skies but breezy. On the way up to Winchester Bay we went by the State dunes area will stop on our way back to take some pictures. Got into Winchester Bay around 1:00 or so. Large marina, many RV sites, but real PRICY. Best areas we found that would be cheap in the area are the County Campgrounds. I believe there are 3 of them. Full service for around $20, 00 a night this is completely full service, which would be nice. They are working on a first come first serve basis. The other privately owned RV Park is really expensive about 32 dollars a night. Weekly was cheaper, but not much. This is still classified as the summer rates, which ends in October. Really did not think that much about the area, but surely would be still fun. Not as large of a bay like Charleston. Saw a lot of fisherman fishing from the jetty. They were all fishing for Salmon. Never saw any caught. There are some docks available for crabbing, but appears that there are not many of them like in Charleston.
Headed back to Charleston and on the way stopped by and took pictures of the Umpqua Light House. Really pretty, lots of history on this one. Helen found a camper stool that some one left and she thinks this would be great for helping Lacy into the truck. Only Helen would find something like this. Lacy has been great, is well mannered and really minds pretty well.
We headed back and stopped at the Shortfall Beach Oregon Dunes. Was not really impressed, but worth seeing for the first time. Funny the park is ran by the Forest Service and down the road about 2 miles is the BLM boat ramp.
Stopped by two RV Parks in Charleston to see if they had any openings yet. The main one we want to get into doesn't have any spaces available yet. Their charges are $122.00 per week with full hookup. A lot cheaper than we are we paying right now. Our Cost here is $20.00 per night, full hookup without sewer. The other one for $122.00 includes all this. There is one other one we looked at, which is across the main drag in Charleston, but they wanted $150.00 per week. Little high which averages out to around $21.42 a night.
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September 18, 2007
Went clamming this morning over where the free boat ramp is located. Its located where Newmark and Cape Argo hwy joins. This is where we talked to a gentleman the other day that did pretty good clamming. Well, again our clamming turned out pretty bad. Walked a long way for such a few calms and they were small at that. Helen naturally out did me on clamming. Not sure what were doing wrong. I did get one cockle ,which is one of the better clams you can get. We got between Helen and I around 13 or so. Pretty shabby when the limit from what I recall is 25 or so per person. The digging of the clams put a hurt on Helens back. To much stooping I think. Missed the Low tide today, which should have been at 10 am. Got here around 11:30 or so.
Going to try it again tomorrow this time more over toward Charleston Bridge on the upper side of Charleston. Maybe our problem is not getting out to the area that is not touched very much. Who knows?
Tried crabbing again this afternoon. Helen went into Coos Bay to the Library and to Wal-Mart to get some things. Main thing was to get additional minutes on our cell phone use them up pretty fast when you’re calling long distance, or somebody is calling you. As far as things go the Crabbing was just as lousy. Only a few Red Rock Crabs and small Dungeness. One of these days I will hit it big time just don’t know when.
Funny while out on the pier crabbing a couple of guys went by me to see how I was doing. They noticed our name on the float for the crab net, which had our town we lived in on it also. They asked me where I was from and I told him the Susanville area. Well low and behold he was from there also. He is a guard at one of the prisons I think the Federal one in Herlong. His name is Gary Palmer; He said he knew Donald Spangle our neighbor.
Such as small world isn’t. They are staying in a real nice campground, which is run by the State of Oregon over in Sunset Cove. About 4 miles from here. They have full service for the prices were paying here which has the full hook up for $20.00 per day. We may go over an take a look see ,but I think its to shady over there and also in a canyon, so no TV or cell phone signal. We want a little more sun like we have here.
We had a great dinner last night, which was spaghetti French bread and all the fixings. I put the clams we caught in a bucket with corn meal about 2:00 pm to soak over night to help rid them of the sand. Really don’t think it will do much good since many were damaged when we dug them up. I think what I will do is try to catch more and take these out of the shell and hand clean them to get the sand out and then cut them up for the clam chowder.
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September 19, 2007
Beautiful day full sun would not believe it since it rained about midnight. Pretty good rain. Now this morning its pure blue sky.
Well I am going to give the clam digging another shot today. I don’t think Helen will be able to dig with her back. Going to try on the South West side of the bridge. Now the BIG question; do I go fishing or crabbing? The way things are going can’t catch anything. Helen would like some fish, so fishing it will be. Will try the surf this time maybe get some perch?
Well tried the clamming, got a few, but not as many as I was hoping for. Naturally I broke over half of them. I still don’t have the act to dig them. One of the clams was a good size. Got tired digging my back started to hurt as well as running out air. Getting too old I guess for having so much fun HA! The Siren in Charleston went off and I did not know why. The first thought I had was a tsunami warning. So I figured maybe I should get out of the beach area. Well needless to say when I got back to my truck and looked at my watch it was the noon whistle that went off. I tried claming on the South side of the bridge as well as the North end. Hard core digging. I really think you have to have a minus tide in order to do real good. Hit it at a low tide, but not low enough I guess.
Found a Laundry mat for Helen in Charleston right off the main drag. Guess we will go there tomorrow to do the wash. Got back to the camp around 1:00 or so. Helen was racking her brain again on the Myst 4 game.
Met a young couple in the furthest camp site on this loop. They were real pleasant. The young man really loves clams and was planning on doing some while he was here. He was telling me it would be easier to get clams if I used a tube to get them. I will take his advise and see how much they cost next time we're in town. The couple is from Washington.
Jetty - Inlet to Coos BayHelen and I went down to the beach to do some surf fishing, but decided to go out to the jetty. Was real rough and windy out there. I tried casting a few times with a bobber without any luck. The waves were to big as well as the trash such as the seaweed was extremely heavy. There was a large ship anchored just out side of the bay, which I watched it for a long time could not figure out why the ship was anchored there so long. It started into the bay and went about half way up and turned around and went back out. It finally dawned on me it had to be a dredger ship removing the sand from the bay. I would be willing to bet that is what caused all the sea weed to come ashore. Amazing to watch the ship as it actual turned around in the jetty, which is really not a wide entrance. How they turned such a large ship around in such a short area without hiting the rock jetty in all that wind amazed me.
Dredging Ship off of Coos Bay Inlet
Helen spotted a gray whale just inside the bay, saw it a couple of times. Really never thought the whales would come into a bay.
Went down to the State Campground to see what it looked like (Sunset Bay). Real nice campground, however it did not have good cell phone coverage as well as real sandy area. Would be great in the summer, but right now we like the sun. Rates were not bad $20.00 per night for full hook up. No Wi-Fi.
Really not many areas have WI-FI in Charleston. I really expect in the very near future you will see more RV Sites offering WI-FI.
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September 20, 2007
Another beautiful day sunny but breezy. Going to try some crabbing again. Hopefully will get some more Dungeness...
Helen is going into town and drop me off at the pier while she washing clothes. I did not realize how many clothes we dirtied. Here again and I will always say this you could not ask such a caring women that is always giving 150 % She is always encouraging me to do things I like and enjoy. Love her.
We were invited out for a dinner from our neighbors next too us. His name is Alex and hers is Linda. Older couple not as old as I am. I think she said they are in their 60s. We will pick up some things they will need for the barbaque tonight. Alex is going to get some tuna loins and barbeque them. He said he marinades them in Lawery Lemon Pepper Marinade for 2 to 3 hours before barbaqueing them. Sounds good.
We went to town and got all the things we needed on top of the things for the Barbeque tonight. Stopped by several stores to check on clam tubes and found one which was pretty cheap for $11.95. Amazing this was in a fish and tackle shop next to the bay. You would have thought their cost would be high. They were even cheaper than Bi-Mart as well as Wal-Mart. We found the cheapest place to get beer in town is, believe or not, Safeway. Crazy thing about the Safeway store here is they sell gas also and by using your Safeway card they take another 10 cents per gallon off. Cheapest gasoline we can find anywhere in town.
Helen took me over to the pier and helped walk me out to the end of the pier to do my crabbing. Was an incoming tide which was better than the out going. Looked promising was getting lots of small crabs the Dungeness type, but no keepers just under size. Finally got one the was big enough so away in the bucket he goes. I think if I could have stayed longer would have caught more, but we had a dinner engagement and had to be back to camp by 4 pm...
This is one for the books.
To really top this off while I was crabbing on the pier a gentleman walked up to me and started talking and here is another tale which is hard to believe. The gentleman is the Dean at Modesto Junior College, the College I attended when I was taking Forestry in the 70s... I guess the professor also teaches forestry now. He also teaches my favorite class Native Plant Identification. He is also a great friend with one of my old favorite professors, Harold Whaley, which also taught Forestry. He is now retired and in his seventies. I told the man to be sure and say hello to Harold Whaley for me. Weird things have been happening since I have been up here like old history coming back.
Took over the Wine to the neighbors to talk to them and find out more about them. Evidently here we go again it’s a small world. He and his wife live in Eureka and guess what? they live right next door to Tom the Captain of the Skipper Jack, which is the boat that Mike Davis was reserving for us when ever the forest service group of us would go down fishing on the coast. In fact Alex and Tom are the best of friends.
We had a wonderful dinner with them. The tuna was great. Another recipe to our collection.
Alex and Linda are pretty knowledgeable with stocks and the Stock Market. One of his recommendations was to check with our advisor Steve Jackson on what he thinks about Franklin investments. Said this has been doing great for them and has been making money all along.
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September 21, 2007
Foggy this morning no wind yet. Looking at going crabbing again if weather holds up. Depends on Helen though, not sure what she wants to do. I kind of hate leaving her home while I go out and have and have all the fun.
We're still debating on what to do. Do we want to leave the motor home up here at Ed and Alma’s house and drive home for awhile and come back for another month to see how we like the weather up here? That would mean driving the truck back home and of course now the other question...do we leave the boat or take it back home? Decisions, decisions. Have to admit have not had the boat out yet. Still hesitant not sure if Helen and I could do this by ourselves. If we do take it out will have to be on a real nice clam day. Not sure how you would do your crabbing and bring in the nets to remove the small ones without some type of winch line to pull them up. The other obstacle would be how to drag the boat to launch it in the bay. I think you may be able to hook the bow up with a rope and lift the front end up enough where you could tie the front of the boat up and pull it backward not sure. Would have to be a two person operation I can see this. One driving the truck the other guiding the boat. May have to try this later in the parking lot to see how it works. Can’t get up to the ramp once you get the boat out of the water. I have the wheels in the back, which would make it easer to roll back, but how do you hook it up to the truck?
There is so many unknowns about this trip it kind of scares me. Done lousy fishing that’s for sure, but being new to the game it’s to be expected.
One thing about this trip is it’s a learning experience for us. People up here very friendly not like I expected was thinking they were going to be obnoxious to Californians. Not so.
I think we will check on some more RV sites today to see if we can get something cheaper. We have one down to $110.00 per week so far, which is right on the marina, however pretty jammed up. Would like a little more space.
Got invited out tonight to go to the Oyster Cove restaurant with Alex & Linda just for company. The restaurant I located on the Marina. Hope it’s not too much. Oh well look at it as a vacation. Besides that we have not been out for a good dinner yet except last night to Alex’s place.
Will be going into the Library again today to check our E-mail and our checking account. Now I have to make the decision on weather I want to buy a clam tube or wait until I get home and make one . I guess for the price its worth buying one and I can use it for a copy of one to make up for Helen. Got the tube for $11.95 which is the cheapest one I could find.
The weather turned off windy and cool, would have been cool for fishing but tolerable.
Helen final got hold of the kids. I guess Johnny has pneumonia. Other than that everything else sounds ok.
Went out to dinner with Alex and Linda to the Oyster Cove pretty pricey, but had a wonderful meal. Both Helen and I had the combination plate which consisted of some fried ocean Cod fish not sure what type, fried shrimp and fried oysters the meal came with also clam chowder. They had a string bean that was delicious, heavily spiced with something really good. Linda ordered fried sweet potatoes and they were also pretty good. I had an Oyster shooter, which was pretty good also. What they do is put a whole oyster in a cocktail glass with a little touch of catsup lemon juice and Tobasco sauce. Then you eat it raw. Not something I could eat all the time. Tried to talk Helen in eating one, but no luck. Helen did not even like the fried oyster she got with her plate. She at least tried it and ate one of them. Lucky I got her other two .
It cost us over $ 70.00 for the wine and meals. Not cheap, but was good.
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Helen spotted a gray whale just inside the bay, saw it a couple of times. Really never thought the whales would come into a bay.
Went down to the State Campground to see what it looked like (Sunset Bay). Real nice campground, however it did not have good cell phone coverage as well as real sandy area. Would be great in the summer, but right now we like the sun. Rates were not bad $20.00 per night for full hook up. No Wi-Fi.
Really not many areas have WI-FI in Charleston. I really expect in the very near future you will see more RV Sites offering WI-FI.
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September 20, 2007
Another beautiful day sunny but breezy. Going to try some crabbing again. Hopefully will get some more Dungeness...
Helen is going into town and drop me off at the pier while she washing clothes. I did not realize how many clothes we dirtied. Here again and I will always say this you could not ask such a caring women that is always giving 150 % She is always encouraging me to do things I like and enjoy. Love her.
We were invited out for a dinner from our neighbors next too us. His name is Alex and hers is Linda. Older couple not as old as I am. I think she said they are in their 60s. We will pick up some things they will need for the barbaque tonight. Alex is going to get some tuna loins and barbeque them. He said he marinades them in Lawery Lemon Pepper Marinade for 2 to 3 hours before barbaqueing them. Sounds good.
We went to town and got all the things we needed on top of the things for the Barbeque tonight. Stopped by several stores to check on clam tubes and found one which was pretty cheap for $11.95. Amazing this was in a fish and tackle shop next to the bay. You would have thought their cost would be high. They were even cheaper than Bi-Mart as well as Wal-Mart. We found the cheapest place to get beer in town is, believe or not, Safeway. Crazy thing about the Safeway store here is they sell gas also and by using your Safeway card they take another 10 cents per gallon off. Cheapest gasoline we can find anywhere in town.
Helen took me over to the pier and helped walk me out to the end of the pier to do my crabbing. Was an incoming tide which was better than the out going. Looked promising was getting lots of small crabs the Dungeness type, but no keepers just under size. Finally got one the was big enough so away in the bucket he goes. I think if I could have stayed longer would have caught more, but we had a dinner engagement and had to be back to camp by 4 pm...
This is one for the books.
To really top this off while I was crabbing on the pier a gentleman walked up to me and started talking and here is another tale which is hard to believe. The gentleman is the Dean at Modesto Junior College, the College I attended when I was taking Forestry in the 70s... I guess the professor also teaches forestry now. He also teaches my favorite class Native Plant Identification. He is also a great friend with one of my old favorite professors, Harold Whaley, which also taught Forestry. He is now retired and in his seventies. I told the man to be sure and say hello to Harold Whaley for me. Weird things have been happening since I have been up here like old history coming back.
Took over the Wine to the neighbors to talk to them and find out more about them. Evidently here we go again it’s a small world. He and his wife live in Eureka and guess what? they live right next door to Tom the Captain of the Skipper Jack, which is the boat that Mike Davis was reserving for us when ever the forest service group of us would go down fishing on the coast. In fact Alex and Tom are the best of friends.
We had a wonderful dinner with them. The tuna was great. Another recipe to our collection.
Alex and Linda are pretty knowledgeable with stocks and the Stock Market. One of his recommendations was to check with our advisor Steve Jackson on what he thinks about Franklin investments. Said this has been doing great for them and has been making money all along.
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September 21, 2007
Foggy this morning no wind yet. Looking at going crabbing again if weather holds up. Depends on Helen though, not sure what she wants to do. I kind of hate leaving her home while I go out and have and have all the fun.
We're still debating on what to do. Do we want to leave the motor home up here at Ed and Alma’s house and drive home for awhile and come back for another month to see how we like the weather up here? That would mean driving the truck back home and of course now the other question...do we leave the boat or take it back home? Decisions, decisions. Have to admit have not had the boat out yet. Still hesitant not sure if Helen and I could do this by ourselves. If we do take it out will have to be on a real nice clam day. Not sure how you would do your crabbing and bring in the nets to remove the small ones without some type of winch line to pull them up. The other obstacle would be how to drag the boat to launch it in the bay. I think you may be able to hook the bow up with a rope and lift the front end up enough where you could tie the front of the boat up and pull it backward not sure. Would have to be a two person operation I can see this. One driving the truck the other guiding the boat. May have to try this later in the parking lot to see how it works. Can’t get up to the ramp once you get the boat out of the water. I have the wheels in the back, which would make it easer to roll back, but how do you hook it up to the truck?
There is so many unknowns about this trip it kind of scares me. Done lousy fishing that’s for sure, but being new to the game it’s to be expected.
One thing about this trip is it’s a learning experience for us. People up here very friendly not like I expected was thinking they were going to be obnoxious to Californians. Not so.
I think we will check on some more RV sites today to see if we can get something cheaper. We have one down to $110.00 per week so far, which is right on the marina, however pretty jammed up. Would like a little more space.
Got invited out tonight to go to the Oyster Cove restaurant with Alex & Linda just for company. The restaurant I located on the Marina. Hope it’s not too much. Oh well look at it as a vacation. Besides that we have not been out for a good dinner yet except last night to Alex’s place.
Will be going into the Library again today to check our E-mail and our checking account. Now I have to make the decision on weather I want to buy a clam tube or wait until I get home and make one . I guess for the price its worth buying one and I can use it for a copy of one to make up for Helen. Got the tube for $11.95 which is the cheapest one I could find.
The weather turned off windy and cool, would have been cool for fishing but tolerable.
Helen final got hold of the kids. I guess Johnny has pneumonia. Other than that everything else sounds ok.
Went out to dinner with Alex and Linda to the Oyster Cove pretty pricey, but had a wonderful meal. Both Helen and I had the combination plate which consisted of some fried ocean Cod fish not sure what type, fried shrimp and fried oysters the meal came with also clam chowder. They had a string bean that was delicious, heavily spiced with something really good. Linda ordered fried sweet potatoes and they were also pretty good. I had an Oyster shooter, which was pretty good also. What they do is put a whole oyster in a cocktail glass with a little touch of catsup lemon juice and Tobasco sauce. Then you eat it raw. Not something I could eat all the time. Tried to talk Helen in eating one, but no luck. Helen did not even like the fried oyster she got with her plate. She at least tried it and ate one of them. Lucky I got her other two .
It cost us over $ 70.00 for the wine and meals. Not cheap, but was good.
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September 22, 2007
Overcast this morning. Not really as cold as like yesterday. It’s the wind that kills you. The bay was real choppy yesterday not a good day for a small boat.
We got our reservations final taken care of. Little questionable as whether it’s for today or tomorrow. Hopefully its tomorrow.
We have to meet Alma and Ed in Bandon at noon Sunday for a lunch. Looking forward to this. I think I will go and crab a little today. Like to get a few more some for us and some for Ed & Alma. Dream on, right?
This time I will try using some of the chicken again and a little liver for bait. Who knows?
Helen’s not going with me this time. She wants to do some other things around the house. I may not go fishing either depends on the weather. Will check with the weather station. The radio we have in the motor home is great for giving you the latest weather information.
I think Helen & I will have leftovers tonight with a little clam chowder.
We're still debating whether to leave the motor home up here for a while and go home for a couple of weeks. Not sure if we can handle the weather in our RV. I will ask Ed & Alma what their thoughts are on this.
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September 23, 2007
Met Alma and Ed in Bandon this afternoon after a supposedly scenic trip to Bandon that almost got us lost. Pretty trip I admit. Went to some Oregon State park on the Ocean. The weather was clear, but somewhat windy.
Anyway met them both at an intersection in Bandon, which worked out real good. The restaurant we are eating at is called Bandon Boatworks Restaurant. Real nice restaurant right on the tip of the jetty. They had a special that day of Halibut sandwiches,which Helen & Alma ordered and I think they were around $12.00 each. Ed and I both had the traditional Fish & Chips and of course a draft beer. Had the standard draft Budweiser while Ed had some Oregon draft beer. One thing about Oregon there sure seems to be a wide selection of Oregon draft beer... I think the whole meal including tip ran us around $70.00, which was not bad and was pretty good food. The cold slaw salad was one to be desired, not much flavor.
Alma and Ed told us they stayed all winter in there 5th wheel in Oregon no biggie. They even invited us to stay with them for the winter in there house. Pretty nice if them. We declined since I know it would be a hardship for them. Ed is going to check rates in Coquille at the RV park to see what the monthly rate is.
Right now the plan would be to go home the first of October and get things straightened out, leave our RV at Alma and Ed's place and return near the end of October to see if we would like the winter up here. I think we will take the boat back at the same time. No use in leaving it here since we have not used it yet and really not sure if we will use now.
Ed proceeds to have us follow them to an area that over looked the ocean just south of Bandon. Real pretty- sat on a bench for about an hour and just enjoyed the scenery. Sunny, but here again breezy. We left the area and proceeded back North where we stopped by an over look run by the State called Face Rock. Real neat area and indeed the rock did look like a face. There were some people riding horse on the Beach as well as somebody flying a huge kite with the longest tail I ever saw. .
Face Rock Beach
We then proceeded north to another State Campground just North of Bandon Bullards Beach. This place had lots of people there. Ed said his church group down here with a bunch of members with their boats and go out and catch lots of Crab for a big crab feed on the beach. Sounds like a lot fun.
One thing I noticed here is you can grow just about anything. I saw some real nice Artichoke plants with big fruit on them growing in one persons front yard.
One thing I noticed here is you can grow just about anything. I saw some real nice Artichoke plants with big fruit on them growing in one persons front yard.
eft Ed and Alma and headed back to our RV site in Charleston around 3:30 or so.
Did not do much the rest of the day just sat around and had a few Beers was hoping that Alex and Linda would stop by, but I think it is too late. Hopefully will see them tomorrow before they leave for Eureka.
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September 24, 2007
Looks like another beautiful day again today cold last night but really sunny today. Will try the old crabbing again today and see what I can do.
The lady at the RV park said she lives about 2 miles out of Charleston and it got down to 37 degrees last night at her house.
Alex & Linda stopped by before they left for Home. The were waiting for there fish to be processed at Chucks.
Got out to the docks around 11:30 not as many people crabbing today. It’s a little late should have e been here about and hour or so ago. Helen stayed back at the RV and played her game on the PC.
I guess after talking to another guy on the dock he did not do any good himself. So there goes the theory of getting there early. Got lots of crabs, but no legal ones. There would have three that would have been legal, however they were females. Still a little soft shelled.
Quit crabbing around 4:00 or so and went back to the RV for a cold beer. Took the dog out for short walk outside of the RV Park and ran into two old couples that were claming and they did excellent. They each had their limit of clams. Of that most of them were Cockles. Great steamers. What I did not know was they were finding them in the flats just under the seaweed, or slightly below the sand. Now I have to buy a cheap rake. Boy will I ever learn. Going to try claming tomorrow myself and hopefully get lucky and limit out. Looking forward to that. Of course will do some more crabbing this morning since I need some type of fish to eat. Good thing I don’t have to live off of my catch. I would starve to death!!
Talked to an older man at the RV site that makes small aluminum trailers specificlyy for small boats like mine. Has small wheels, but wide for sand. Only weights 55 lbs. This trailer would be great for launching your boat off of your overhead lift on the truck. . Wants $295.00, which sounds pretty reasonable. Would not mind having one, but a little short on cash at this time. Would make launching your boat much easier I think.
Still having problems with my legs cramping up each night. Not sure how to stop them from cramping. Not sure if it’s a lack of some mineral or maybe the medication I am taking, but its driving me nuts. Will see if I can find some Quinine water to take at night, anyway it’s worth a try.
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September 25, 2007
Went to town to get a Bi-Mart Card. Kind of like a Wal-Mart and a Winco. It’s a worker owned company. Some good prices on many items, but like all stores you have to check the price sometimes even discount stores can be higher than you mom & pop operations. The Card cost us $5.00 for a lifetime membership. Although there is none in California or Nevada worth the money even if you only use it once or twice. Some of the fishing gear is real cheap. Here again watch the prices.
Funny thing when we were in Bi-Mart I asked the Pharmacy what I could take for my leg cramps since you can’t get Quinine pills any more. She told me they had some Quinine pills left that if I had a doctor Rx could get some. Right away we gave her Doctor Korver's phone #. She called hims and about 3o minutes later I had the pills.
Went out to the pier again to crab. Lousy crabbing again no keepers. Most of the ones that were caught were done on the last pier way out to the tip. Will give it a try again tomorrow not much hope. Crabs still a little soft shelled. Did not even catch any Rock Crabs.
Talked to fellow that went claming yesterday and limited out on clams both him and his wife. Right next to the RV Park. Helen & I will give it a try tonight. The way the're finding the clams are during low tide just walking in the seaweed and they feel the clams with their feet. They say it just feels like a rock, remove the seaweed and the clams are right under the seaweed. That is if your lucky! Most of the clams the guy and his wife caught were Cockles, which are great steamers.
Well Helen & I went clamming around 5:30 during the minus tide. Needless to say it was a flop. Helen found about 8 or so I found only 3...doing something wrong! They were all Cockles. Boy this was hard work both Helen & I were beat by the time we got done. Looks like it's time to buy that small rake to find the clams. Another expense I did not consider.
Tried the tube and boy if you think this is easy try it some time real hard to pull the tube out of the sand. Heavy will try clamming again one more time tomorrow. The tube is mainly used for the Razor clams, which are interesting to find also. Got on line with Oregon Fish and game they had a site that showed how you did them with a tube and a shovel. Been digging them the wrong way. Here again a learning experience. Would like to get a few more clams if possible.
One thing I need to do is ask some locals on claming on Bastendorff beach for razor clams. Would be easer then claming in the dirty mud over her near the Marina.
We had a great meal last night, fried chicken. It was fantastic. Got a little cool this evening since we're both tired from clamming we went to bed early.
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September 26, 2007
Well did it again went out crabbing. Can’t believe I got four of the rascals, was real happy with my catch. Met a young couple that crab here a lot. They were looking mainly for the red crab, so I gave him my one and only one, but I had four Dungeness crabs... happy as all can be.
They have an excellent crab and fish cleaning house here at the Charleston RV Park well covered and real comfortable. They even furnish the propane and the pot if needed. Going to try their shower tonight, I need it. I think I have ripened enough not sure if Helen can live with me much longer. Love this type of life, but still not sure about the weather. I think Helen is hesitant a little also. If we decide to buy a home I think it won’t be for a year or so. When we get home I think we will stay home until November or so to get things all together. Jenny called today and talked to Helen for quiet a while. We're supposed to meet her and Don at Chuck's Seafood Market at 1:00 pm on Saturday. Don wants to take us out for dinner. Jenny mentioned that the casino in North Bay has a great Buffet. Checked it out, but pretty pricy. Think we will avoid this pretty costly for us.
Needless to say did not go clamming today beat and shot like Helen. May try it tomorrow in the am. Pretty much it is cool to get out that early wish I had a rake!
Gong to have crab tonight can’t wait. Helen is going to eat her favorite yum yum, chili beans. Oh well what ever she likes I guess it’s up to each individual. Mine is ocean fish.
I guess its time to take my shower. Long enough getting cooler out better do it while it’s still a little warm. Oh by the way, our neighbor next door to us went out again today and got I think 13 crabs. Of course this is in his boat. Still not comfortable with my boat. More than likely take it home with us.
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September 27 2007
Great day today it’s our anniversary. I should have taken Helen out for dinner today. She is sure a sweetheart always will love her.
Did not go crabbing today was beat from yesterday. Went to town to buy some things and one thing we're looking for is a rake for claming. Found a good one at Wal-Mart called a cultivator rake. Real nice for the price I think we paid $12.00 for it. Hope this makes it easier. Got a few groceries for dinner, hamburger, buns and other items we felt we needed. On the way home we stopped by the oyster farm in Charleston & I brought one dozen small oysters. It cost me $5.00 that’s about 48 cents each. Had three Oyster shooters when I got back home they were pretty good. The trick is to add one oyster raw of course, little dab of cocktail sauce, a couple of dashes of Tabasco Sauce and some lemon juice. Sounds terrible, but taste darn good. The rest of the oysters I will make up into an oyster stew. Not sure If Helen will even eat it.
Kind of got a little sick later in the day. I think it’s from doing so much the past two weeks or so.
Got thinking and talked to Helen about it, but maybe we're better off just going home this time since it will be a real pain to stay up here in the winter with the dog. She is so big and really has a bad odor. I really don’t think she has a lot of time left. Getting pretty shaky. No more animals it’s just too much and it’s not only hard on you ,but the animal since you have to keep them on a leash all the time. Any way something to consider. Really would love to see if we liked it up here, but we have to do what’s right.
Well low tide came around 7:30 this evening. We decided like recommended to go at least and hour before low tide. Helen and I went for the clamming again this time with a rake on hand. Helen looks so cute with her black shinny booties. This time we went out in the bay next to the RV Park. I now will call her my little claming goddess. She out clamed me again.
It’s real hard finding the little rascals, especially walking in the real muddy muck. One foot or the other is stuck in the mud you sure don’t want to walk fast in this stuff. The trick is to keep moving. If you stop to long you create suction and its kind of hard to get your foot out.
Going to try it again tomorrow evening this time a little further out. Nice looking clams.
I think the rake is the way to go. Funny to watch the clams blow out water. Got back to the motor home, went to the claming shack to rinse them down going to let them soak all night. I think I will make steamed calms and oyster stew tomorrow. Will cut some of the large ones up for clam chowder later. Froze some of them so I think they will be ok when I make the chowder. I want to use the larger cockles for the chowder and save the smaller ones for the steaming.
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September 28, 2007
I think we will make a trip up to the wine country today to check it out. Rained pretty well here last night, but partly cloudy this morning. Looks like a nice day coming. Still having fun.
Helen had her Birthday today I did not buy her anything feel like a real jerk.
Will cook the clams today when we get back from the wine country. May even pick up a
bottle or two of fine wine.
Went too two wineries today one is called Old Bridge Winery next to an old covered bridge. Of which we bought a bottle of Cranberry Wine at $15.00 per bottle. Helen liked it. We decided to head east this time to some other wineries. We went to another winery called Girardet Winery, which wanted real bucks for their wine, some of them over $50.00 per bottle. We bought two bottles that were on sale, which was a Cabernet Saudignon. I think we got them for $9.00 a bottle, which was originally $20.00 a bottle. Good price I guess for wine. We stopped at a veterinarian to get some medicine for Lacy's ears and could only buy some ear cleaner without an appointment. Hope it works for her, if not back to the vet Monday. We got gas at Safeway for $2.78 per gallon. Cheapest we have found. Had to get some real money out of the bank we were broke since the one winery did not take Visa cards. Will need checks with us next time.
Checked with the RV Park in Coquille to see what their monthly winter rate runs, which is $300.00 per month, electric not included with a $40 down charge. This is probably where will stay if things work out.
Had some weird people move in next to us I guess their having some type of group party. Purple hair the whole works. It takes all types of people to make this world. They were a little roudy, but not too bad.
Went over to the Office to pay for an additional week of rent and told me the space we have is only good for 4 days that we may have to move to another site. She told me to check back with her today and she will see what she can do. If not we will just have to move. I really don’t mind it too much if we do it right away. Would hate to move when we only have a few days left.
Went claming by myself this evening – low tide again. Did real good limited out on Cockle clams again. vWill chop them up and freeze them for later use. The ones I boiled turned out real tough. Maybe you should cook them for shorter time will look on the internet to see what I did wrong. Will still keep the ones I did not eat and use them for clam chowder in the future. I have to cut up the crab I have remaining so it does not spoil will make a crab cocktail out of it. I think there is only 1 1/2 left. Would love to get more, but the weekend is pretty tied up will have to wait until Monday. Maybe by then the Dredging work the're doing in the harbor will be over, which will hopefully make the crabbing good again.
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September 29, 2007
Cleaned all the clams today and put them in two zip lock bags for clam chowder later.
I tried freezing the clams first in order to help expedite cleaning and opening them. Your suppose to leave the live clams in the freezer for 30 minutes then the're easier to open, which some of them it did work. Others we tried in the Micro wave for 35 seconds. This worked also, but you have to watch it they have a tendency to cook which makes them tough... I would like to take a couple of bags home for some chowder but I need to seal O matic them first. Would not mind doing the same with the Crab, but it has to be shelled first. Will be a timely endeavor but may be worth it. Also finished shelling the remainder of the crabs I caught, which amounted to 2 1/2 half as one was still soft shelled and was real mushy. Learned a real lession on them now from now on they go back in the ocean.
We have to meet Jenny and Don today at Chucks they want to take us out to lunch, which is real nice. They were supposed to meet us at Chucks, but instead met us here at the RV park. We drove over to The Portside Restaurant, which is only a hop skip and a jump from the park. Had a good lunch with them. I think the total bill worked out to $78.00, which I guess its not bad for the four of us. I had the Red Snapper with Cajon sauce pretty good. I think it was around $12.00 for mine. Helen had the fried shrimp meal which looked pretty good. I think that was around $11.00 or so. Was not a bad meal for the price. Don paid for the whole lunch and I picked up the tip, which was around $11.00.
Don and Jenny are going over to the Indian Casino, which is located in Coos Bay. I think it’s called the Mill Creek Casino. We told Don & Jenny we would meet them over there for a while.
On our way over to the Casino I stopped by Les Schwab tire shop to see how much it would cost to install air shocks in the motor home to help ease the problem with the motor home dragging in the back. The price quote was for around $535.00. A little more then I was hoping for. Of course if I have it done in Susanville it will cost me and additional $40.00 since California has the high tax rate. Still pretty high, but needs to be done. Just not sure when we can have it done yet. I guess if we come back up next month we could have it done then.
Met Jenny & Don at the Casino and of course Jenny was gambling away and Don was in the bar watching the football game. No wonder they don’t have any money for lots of things, Jenny is a compulsive gambler. Too bad. Glad were not like that. Anyway Helen & I got $65. out to gamble on. I spent 30.00 dollars Helen spent $35.00. Pretty tight machines.
We left about 6 or so and picked up a hamburger at McDonalds. Can't beat the price a double cheese burger out the door cost us $1.00 each. We ate this just to fill the empty spot in our stomachs. It was showering a little when we left the Casino, but nothing heavy.
Got back to the RV and decided to call it a day. We're are going up to Ed's and Alma tomorrow to fix their personnel computer.
No clamming or crabbing for a couple of days need the rest. Tthe weather does not look that hot for a week or so either. Still have not made our mind if we're coming back later in October or just call it off until next winter.
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September 30, 2007
It rained early this morning pretty good. Looks like it will be overcast pretty much all day. Will be heading to Ed and Alma's later on this morning to give them a hand with the pc. Good day to do it since it will be cloudy with showers.
I think either today or tomorrow the dredging of the bay will be completed and maybe fishing resuming again. Would like to catch some more crabs. Was planning on taking a boat out to catch some bottom fish, but the weather does not look favorable this week, kind of wanted to take some home with us. Oh well next time. The Trip cost $65.00 per day for a half day.
I think next time I get a fishing license it won’t be until January that way it will cover the whole year.
It seems that ever time I think I have everything I need for this type of life find something else. Now I need a clam knife. Good grief when does all this end.
I still want to try to catch some rock fish by the jetty, such as the greenling, which is sometimes called sea trout. I guess they get up to 20 inches in size.
We still can’t make our mind up on should we leave the motor home up here and come back later or take it home. Not sure what to do. The dog is one of our problems. Would be cruel to bring her along and expect her to stay in the motor home all the time.
Went to Ed’s and Alma’s house and had a great dinner. Had some type of chicken that was made and cooked with pineapple and peaches. It also called for apricots, but did not have any. The chicken was pre-cooked and she also added a can of chicken broth. I think they bought the baked chicken at a store called Fred Meyers. We also had a baked squash dish with a cream sauce, with carrots and zucchini. This was also good.
Worked on her computer got it working pretty well. She has an hp printer designed to print pictures. The only problem she had with it was she did not know how to work it. Helen showed her how to do it.
Helen found out the property they purchased cost them $160.000 for 10 acres with the two bedroom house. Nice location and great fruit orchard. W ould not mind finding something like this for us, however we still don’t know if we can put up with the weather here
.
Rained real hard this evening. Something like you would expect during a thunderstorm in our area.
The one slide out where the dinette is seems to have a leak around the windows, mainly near the front on the motor home on the side. Going to have to get something to fix the leak tomorrow. If not we're going to have a dry rot problem in the future. I am hoping that if we bring in the slide out I can silicon it in the house. Its going to take a while for this silicon to dry. Hopefully we can get it sealed before the next rain storm. I think the're expecting it tomorrow.
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October 1, 2007
Looks like the potential for a nice day today. Sunny and warm. Hope it hold out until I get the top of our slide out silicone. It takes at lest 1 hour to set and 24 hour to full cure. If this does not work will have to take it to an RV shop to get it fixed. Gulf Stream put in a funky system for water sealing along the windows. There idea is using some type of funky white tape with a small bead of silicon on the edges. I redid the whole line along the edge in hope this solves the problem. Only way we will know if it works is when it rains again.
I have a better idea to fix it in the future that I will surely do latter. This is a temporary fix for now. I would need some of the aluminum edging material than has a rubber seal that I could run along the whole edge. This would be a much better system in the future.
I think Gulf Stream did there’s the cheapest way.
We went in to town and got the silicon at Wal-Mart as well as the beer at Bi-Mart. Pretty cheap for Beer her I think it was $14.00 for cases of Millers. Of course you have to pay the deposit which is .5 per can.
Found my claming knife at Wal-Mart. Now that should handle everything we need for this type of life. Bet me?
We took a lot of our stuff and dried them to put away since were not using them much. The rug was real wet so we had to dry it first and put it back under the motor home.
When we got home we talked to one of our neighbors who has a rubber raft and does out fishing quite a bit. He was telling me he went out this morning and limited out on the Dungeness crabs (13). He told me that the only way to catch crab here. He used to fish off the docks, but never really did that good.
I was telling him about no taking our boat out since it would be real hard for me and Helen to unload it and launch it. He told me with this type of boat we have I would be fine with it out in the ocean. Also said the boat lift and the wheels for the boat is perfect all I needed was a home made bracket that hooks up to your hitch in ht back That way when you unload the Boat you can put the motor on the back and get everything ready to fish. All you have to do then is lift the front end of the boat up and over the stinger on the car and back the boat in just like it was on a trailer. Makes sense to me. Naturally He told me where the guy that makes them is located whey is just across the bridge. Any way took it over to the shop and they made me one up made of aluminum which is real slick. I admit I did not think it would cost me that much $70.00.
Going to try it out tomorrow in the large parking lost to see how it would work. I think its going to be the cats meow.
Of course now that were going home I am finally getting things together. Learned a lot for everyone as well as most friendly people are in this area.
Helen talked d me into going out on a fishing trip in the ocean with a charter. It’s a half day trip and you catch Rock fish, Like Ling Cod, Snapper etc. Would like to get some to take home. The one out fit which is called Chucks said he would pack the fish for me and freeze them. This would cost me around .50 per bag and I think she told me it $5.00 per day for storage.
The fishing charter said they would freeze it for nothing so I think I will go this route. I will bring the fillets home and use our seal a-matic I to make up individual packs.
Had a great dinner today we had sloppy Joes and clam chowder, not bad chowder could have been better.
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October 2, 2007
We decided to go over to the boat on the other side of the bridge to buy some Tuna. He had fresh ones for $2.00 lb. We got a 19 pound. Which came to $38.00? And there was a $2.00 charge to cut it up for us. Good deal. However when we got back over to our camp site we found out if we would have mentioned we were from the RV site we could have got the fish for $1.50 a lb. This would have saved us $9.00. Roughly figuring the amount of tuna we got would make up over 25, 6 ounce cans of tuna.
Used our seal-o matic to make up 3 bags of tuna. Looks like enough for 15 or 16 pints of cooked tuna.
The guy we brought the tuna from has his own web site and sells tuna in the cans; He told us he sold over 20,000 cans last year alone. His site is Bestalbacore.com
His phone number is 290 53025 or 269-7273.
Tried unloading the boat in the parking lot. Well ran into the first problem could not figure out how to get the boat off of the truck. Looked like the rope was not working right. Gave up came back to the RV Park and asked somebody how to get it to work. Funny had two guys try to help figure it out? We all decided to hand take it off. They went and got 4 other men to help. About the time we got it half way down the guys figured it was working right just had to use the electric winch a little longer. It work like they said but I still don’t think the rope should be that loose when you’re unloading the boat. Will have to check the good book today t see why it is doing what it is.
We put the wheels on the boat and hooked up the front end of the boat on the stinger. Towed the boat back to our pad worked like a bandit.
I think this is going to work out just fine. May try launching it tomorrow if the weather is favorable. Helen said she would help me. She is a true wife. Looks like it’s suppose to rain again tonight.
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Did not do much the rest of the day just sat around and had a few Beers was hoping that Alex and Linda would stop by, but I think it is too late. Hopefully will see them tomorrow before they leave for Eureka.
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September 24, 2007
Looks like another beautiful day again today cold last night but really sunny today. Will try the old crabbing again today and see what I can do.
The lady at the RV park said she lives about 2 miles out of Charleston and it got down to 37 degrees last night at her house.
Alex & Linda stopped by before they left for Home. The were waiting for there fish to be processed at Chucks.
Got out to the docks around 11:30 not as many people crabbing today. It’s a little late should have e been here about and hour or so ago. Helen stayed back at the RV and played her game on the PC.
I guess after talking to another guy on the dock he did not do any good himself. So there goes the theory of getting there early. Got lots of crabs, but no legal ones. There would have three that would have been legal, however they were females. Still a little soft shelled.
Quit crabbing around 4:00 or so and went back to the RV for a cold beer. Took the dog out for short walk outside of the RV Park and ran into two old couples that were claming and they did excellent. They each had their limit of clams. Of that most of them were Cockles. Great steamers. What I did not know was they were finding them in the flats just under the seaweed, or slightly below the sand. Now I have to buy a cheap rake. Boy will I ever learn. Going to try claming tomorrow myself and hopefully get lucky and limit out. Looking forward to that. Of course will do some more crabbing this morning since I need some type of fish to eat. Good thing I don’t have to live off of my catch. I would starve to death!!
Talked to an older man at the RV site that makes small aluminum trailers specificlyy for small boats like mine. Has small wheels, but wide for sand. Only weights 55 lbs. This trailer would be great for launching your boat off of your overhead lift on the truck. . Wants $295.00, which sounds pretty reasonable. Would not mind having one, but a little short on cash at this time. Would make launching your boat much easier I think.
Still having problems with my legs cramping up each night. Not sure how to stop them from cramping. Not sure if it’s a lack of some mineral or maybe the medication I am taking, but its driving me nuts. Will see if I can find some Quinine water to take at night, anyway it’s worth a try.
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September 25, 2007
Went to town to get a Bi-Mart Card. Kind of like a Wal-Mart and a Winco. It’s a worker owned company. Some good prices on many items, but like all stores you have to check the price sometimes even discount stores can be higher than you mom & pop operations. The Card cost us $5.00 for a lifetime membership. Although there is none in California or Nevada worth the money even if you only use it once or twice. Some of the fishing gear is real cheap. Here again watch the prices.
Funny thing when we were in Bi-Mart I asked the Pharmacy what I could take for my leg cramps since you can’t get Quinine pills any more. She told me they had some Quinine pills left that if I had a doctor Rx could get some. Right away we gave her Doctor Korver's phone #. She called hims and about 3o minutes later I had the pills.
Went out to the pier again to crab. Lousy crabbing again no keepers. Most of the ones that were caught were done on the last pier way out to the tip. Will give it a try again tomorrow not much hope. Crabs still a little soft shelled. Did not even catch any Rock Crabs.
Talked to fellow that went claming yesterday and limited out on clams both him and his wife. Right next to the RV Park. Helen & I will give it a try tonight. The way the're finding the clams are during low tide just walking in the seaweed and they feel the clams with their feet. They say it just feels like a rock, remove the seaweed and the clams are right under the seaweed. That is if your lucky! Most of the clams the guy and his wife caught were Cockles, which are great steamers.
Well Helen & I went clamming around 5:30 during the minus tide. Needless to say it was a flop. Helen found about 8 or so I found only 3...doing something wrong! They were all Cockles. Boy this was hard work both Helen & I were beat by the time we got done. Looks like it's time to buy that small rake to find the clams. Another expense I did not consider.
Tried the tube and boy if you think this is easy try it some time real hard to pull the tube out of the sand. Heavy will try clamming again one more time tomorrow. The tube is mainly used for the Razor clams, which are interesting to find also. Got on line with Oregon Fish and game they had a site that showed how you did them with a tube and a shovel. Been digging them the wrong way. Here again a learning experience. Would like to get a few more clams if possible.
One thing I need to do is ask some locals on claming on Bastendorff beach for razor clams. Would be easer then claming in the dirty mud over her near the Marina.
We had a great meal last night, fried chicken. It was fantastic. Got a little cool this evening since we're both tired from clamming we went to bed early.
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September 26, 2007
Well did it again went out crabbing. Can’t believe I got four of the rascals, was real happy with my catch. Met a young couple that crab here a lot. They were looking mainly for the red crab, so I gave him my one and only one, but I had four Dungeness crabs... happy as all can be.
They have an excellent crab and fish cleaning house here at the Charleston RV Park well covered and real comfortable. They even furnish the propane and the pot if needed. Going to try their shower tonight, I need it. I think I have ripened enough not sure if Helen can live with me much longer. Love this type of life, but still not sure about the weather. I think Helen is hesitant a little also. If we decide to buy a home I think it won’t be for a year or so. When we get home I think we will stay home until November or so to get things all together. Jenny called today and talked to Helen for quiet a while. We're supposed to meet her and Don at Chuck's Seafood Market at 1:00 pm on Saturday. Don wants to take us out for dinner. Jenny mentioned that the casino in North Bay has a great Buffet. Checked it out, but pretty pricy. Think we will avoid this pretty costly for us.
Needless to say did not go clamming today beat and shot like Helen. May try it tomorrow in the am. Pretty much it is cool to get out that early wish I had a rake!
Gong to have crab tonight can’t wait. Helen is going to eat her favorite yum yum, chili beans. Oh well what ever she likes I guess it’s up to each individual. Mine is ocean fish.
I guess its time to take my shower. Long enough getting cooler out better do it while it’s still a little warm. Oh by the way, our neighbor next door to us went out again today and got I think 13 crabs. Of course this is in his boat. Still not comfortable with my boat. More than likely take it home with us.
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September 27 2007
Great day today it’s our anniversary. I should have taken Helen out for dinner today. She is sure a sweetheart always will love her.
Did not go crabbing today was beat from yesterday. Went to town to buy some things and one thing we're looking for is a rake for claming. Found a good one at Wal-Mart called a cultivator rake. Real nice for the price I think we paid $12.00 for it. Hope this makes it easier. Got a few groceries for dinner, hamburger, buns and other items we felt we needed. On the way home we stopped by the oyster farm in Charleston & I brought one dozen small oysters. It cost me $5.00 that’s about 48 cents each. Had three Oyster shooters when I got back home they were pretty good. The trick is to add one oyster raw of course, little dab of cocktail sauce, a couple of dashes of Tabasco Sauce and some lemon juice. Sounds terrible, but taste darn good. The rest of the oysters I will make up into an oyster stew. Not sure If Helen will even eat it.
Kind of got a little sick later in the day. I think it’s from doing so much the past two weeks or so.
Got thinking and talked to Helen about it, but maybe we're better off just going home this time since it will be a real pain to stay up here in the winter with the dog. She is so big and really has a bad odor. I really don’t think she has a lot of time left. Getting pretty shaky. No more animals it’s just too much and it’s not only hard on you ,but the animal since you have to keep them on a leash all the time. Any way something to consider. Really would love to see if we liked it up here, but we have to do what’s right.
Well low tide came around 7:30 this evening. We decided like recommended to go at least and hour before low tide. Helen and I went for the clamming again this time with a rake on hand. Helen looks so cute with her black shinny booties. This time we went out in the bay next to the RV Park. I now will call her my little claming goddess. She out clamed me again.
It’s real hard finding the little rascals, especially walking in the real muddy muck. One foot or the other is stuck in the mud you sure don’t want to walk fast in this stuff. The trick is to keep moving. If you stop to long you create suction and its kind of hard to get your foot out.
Going to try it again tomorrow evening this time a little further out. Nice looking clams.
I think the rake is the way to go. Funny to watch the clams blow out water. Got back to the motor home, went to the claming shack to rinse them down going to let them soak all night. I think I will make steamed calms and oyster stew tomorrow. Will cut some of the large ones up for clam chowder later. Froze some of them so I think they will be ok when I make the chowder. I want to use the larger cockles for the chowder and save the smaller ones for the steaming.
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September 28, 2007
I think we will make a trip up to the wine country today to check it out. Rained pretty well here last night, but partly cloudy this morning. Looks like a nice day coming. Still having fun.
Helen had her Birthday today I did not buy her anything feel like a real jerk.
Will cook the clams today when we get back from the wine country. May even pick up a
bottle or two of fine wine.
Went too two wineries today one is called Old Bridge Winery next to an old covered bridge. Of which we bought a bottle of Cranberry Wine at $15.00 per bottle. Helen liked it. We decided to head east this time to some other wineries. We went to another winery called Girardet Winery, which wanted real bucks for their wine, some of them over $50.00 per bottle. We bought two bottles that were on sale, which was a Cabernet Saudignon. I think we got them for $9.00 a bottle, which was originally $20.00 a bottle. Good price I guess for wine. We stopped at a veterinarian to get some medicine for Lacy's ears and could only buy some ear cleaner without an appointment. Hope it works for her, if not back to the vet Monday. We got gas at Safeway for $2.78 per gallon. Cheapest we have found. Had to get some real money out of the bank we were broke since the one winery did not take Visa cards. Will need checks with us next time.
Checked with the RV Park in Coquille to see what their monthly winter rate runs, which is $300.00 per month, electric not included with a $40 down charge. This is probably where will stay if things work out.
Had some weird people move in next to us I guess their having some type of group party. Purple hair the whole works. It takes all types of people to make this world. They were a little roudy, but not too bad.
Went over to the Office to pay for an additional week of rent and told me the space we have is only good for 4 days that we may have to move to another site. She told me to check back with her today and she will see what she can do. If not we will just have to move. I really don’t mind it too much if we do it right away. Would hate to move when we only have a few days left.
Went claming by myself this evening – low tide again. Did real good limited out on Cockle clams again. vWill chop them up and freeze them for later use. The ones I boiled turned out real tough. Maybe you should cook them for shorter time will look on the internet to see what I did wrong. Will still keep the ones I did not eat and use them for clam chowder in the future. I have to cut up the crab I have remaining so it does not spoil will make a crab cocktail out of it. I think there is only 1 1/2 left. Would love to get more, but the weekend is pretty tied up will have to wait until Monday. Maybe by then the Dredging work the're doing in the harbor will be over, which will hopefully make the crabbing good again.
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September 29, 2007
Cleaned all the clams today and put them in two zip lock bags for clam chowder later.
I tried freezing the clams first in order to help expedite cleaning and opening them. Your suppose to leave the live clams in the freezer for 30 minutes then the're easier to open, which some of them it did work. Others we tried in the Micro wave for 35 seconds. This worked also, but you have to watch it they have a tendency to cook which makes them tough... I would like to take a couple of bags home for some chowder but I need to seal O matic them first. Would not mind doing the same with the Crab, but it has to be shelled first. Will be a timely endeavor but may be worth it. Also finished shelling the remainder of the crabs I caught, which amounted to 2 1/2 half as one was still soft shelled and was real mushy. Learned a real lession on them now from now on they go back in the ocean.
We have to meet Jenny and Don today at Chucks they want to take us out to lunch, which is real nice. They were supposed to meet us at Chucks, but instead met us here at the RV park. We drove over to The Portside Restaurant, which is only a hop skip and a jump from the park. Had a good lunch with them. I think the total bill worked out to $78.00, which I guess its not bad for the four of us. I had the Red Snapper with Cajon sauce pretty good. I think it was around $12.00 for mine. Helen had the fried shrimp meal which looked pretty good. I think that was around $11.00 or so. Was not a bad meal for the price. Don paid for the whole lunch and I picked up the tip, which was around $11.00.
Don and Jenny are going over to the Indian Casino, which is located in Coos Bay. I think it’s called the Mill Creek Casino. We told Don & Jenny we would meet them over there for a while.
On our way over to the Casino I stopped by Les Schwab tire shop to see how much it would cost to install air shocks in the motor home to help ease the problem with the motor home dragging in the back. The price quote was for around $535.00. A little more then I was hoping for. Of course if I have it done in Susanville it will cost me and additional $40.00 since California has the high tax rate. Still pretty high, but needs to be done. Just not sure when we can have it done yet. I guess if we come back up next month we could have it done then.
Met Jenny & Don at the Casino and of course Jenny was gambling away and Don was in the bar watching the football game. No wonder they don’t have any money for lots of things, Jenny is a compulsive gambler. Too bad. Glad were not like that. Anyway Helen & I got $65. out to gamble on. I spent 30.00 dollars Helen spent $35.00. Pretty tight machines.
We left about 6 or so and picked up a hamburger at McDonalds. Can't beat the price a double cheese burger out the door cost us $1.00 each. We ate this just to fill the empty spot in our stomachs. It was showering a little when we left the Casino, but nothing heavy.
Got back to the RV and decided to call it a day. We're are going up to Ed's and Alma tomorrow to fix their personnel computer.
No clamming or crabbing for a couple of days need the rest. Tthe weather does not look that hot for a week or so either. Still have not made our mind if we're coming back later in October or just call it off until next winter.
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September 30, 2007
It rained early this morning pretty good. Looks like it will be overcast pretty much all day. Will be heading to Ed and Alma's later on this morning to give them a hand with the pc. Good day to do it since it will be cloudy with showers.
I think either today or tomorrow the dredging of the bay will be completed and maybe fishing resuming again. Would like to catch some more crabs. Was planning on taking a boat out to catch some bottom fish, but the weather does not look favorable this week, kind of wanted to take some home with us. Oh well next time. The Trip cost $65.00 per day for a half day.
I think next time I get a fishing license it won’t be until January that way it will cover the whole year.
It seems that ever time I think I have everything I need for this type of life find something else. Now I need a clam knife. Good grief when does all this end.
I still want to try to catch some rock fish by the jetty, such as the greenling, which is sometimes called sea trout. I guess they get up to 20 inches in size.
We still can’t make our mind up on should we leave the motor home up here and come back later or take it home. Not sure what to do. The dog is one of our problems. Would be cruel to bring her along and expect her to stay in the motor home all the time.
Went to Ed’s and Alma’s house and had a great dinner. Had some type of chicken that was made and cooked with pineapple and peaches. It also called for apricots, but did not have any. The chicken was pre-cooked and she also added a can of chicken broth. I think they bought the baked chicken at a store called Fred Meyers. We also had a baked squash dish with a cream sauce, with carrots and zucchini. This was also good.
Worked on her computer got it working pretty well. She has an hp printer designed to print pictures. The only problem she had with it was she did not know how to work it. Helen showed her how to do it.
Helen found out the property they purchased cost them $160.000 for 10 acres with the two bedroom house. Nice location and great fruit orchard. W ould not mind finding something like this for us, however we still don’t know if we can put up with the weather here
.
Rained real hard this evening. Something like you would expect during a thunderstorm in our area.
The one slide out where the dinette is seems to have a leak around the windows, mainly near the front on the motor home on the side. Going to have to get something to fix the leak tomorrow. If not we're going to have a dry rot problem in the future. I am hoping that if we bring in the slide out I can silicon it in the house. Its going to take a while for this silicon to dry. Hopefully we can get it sealed before the next rain storm. I think the're expecting it tomorrow.
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October 1, 2007
Looks like the potential for a nice day today. Sunny and warm. Hope it hold out until I get the top of our slide out silicone. It takes at lest 1 hour to set and 24 hour to full cure. If this does not work will have to take it to an RV shop to get it fixed. Gulf Stream put in a funky system for water sealing along the windows. There idea is using some type of funky white tape with a small bead of silicon on the edges. I redid the whole line along the edge in hope this solves the problem. Only way we will know if it works is when it rains again.
I have a better idea to fix it in the future that I will surely do latter. This is a temporary fix for now. I would need some of the aluminum edging material than has a rubber seal that I could run along the whole edge. This would be a much better system in the future.
I think Gulf Stream did there’s the cheapest way.
We went in to town and got the silicon at Wal-Mart as well as the beer at Bi-Mart. Pretty cheap for Beer her I think it was $14.00 for cases of Millers. Of course you have to pay the deposit which is .5 per can.
Found my claming knife at Wal-Mart. Now that should handle everything we need for this type of life. Bet me?
We took a lot of our stuff and dried them to put away since were not using them much. The rug was real wet so we had to dry it first and put it back under the motor home.
When we got home we talked to one of our neighbors who has a rubber raft and does out fishing quite a bit. He was telling me he went out this morning and limited out on the Dungeness crabs (13). He told me that the only way to catch crab here. He used to fish off the docks, but never really did that good.
I was telling him about no taking our boat out since it would be real hard for me and Helen to unload it and launch it. He told me with this type of boat we have I would be fine with it out in the ocean. Also said the boat lift and the wheels for the boat is perfect all I needed was a home made bracket that hooks up to your hitch in ht back That way when you unload the Boat you can put the motor on the back and get everything ready to fish. All you have to do then is lift the front end of the boat up and over the stinger on the car and back the boat in just like it was on a trailer. Makes sense to me. Naturally He told me where the guy that makes them is located whey is just across the bridge. Any way took it over to the shop and they made me one up made of aluminum which is real slick. I admit I did not think it would cost me that much $70.00.
Going to try it out tomorrow in the large parking lost to see how it would work. I think its going to be the cats meow.
Of course now that were going home I am finally getting things together. Learned a lot for everyone as well as most friendly people are in this area.
Helen talked d me into going out on a fishing trip in the ocean with a charter. It’s a half day trip and you catch Rock fish, Like Ling Cod, Snapper etc. Would like to get some to take home. The one out fit which is called Chucks said he would pack the fish for me and freeze them. This would cost me around .50 per bag and I think she told me it $5.00 per day for storage.
The fishing charter said they would freeze it for nothing so I think I will go this route. I will bring the fillets home and use our seal a-matic I to make up individual packs.
Had a great dinner today we had sloppy Joes and clam chowder, not bad chowder could have been better.
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October 2, 2007
We decided to go over to the boat on the other side of the bridge to buy some Tuna. He had fresh ones for $2.00 lb. We got a 19 pound. Which came to $38.00? And there was a $2.00 charge to cut it up for us. Good deal. However when we got back over to our camp site we found out if we would have mentioned we were from the RV site we could have got the fish for $1.50 a lb. This would have saved us $9.00. Roughly figuring the amount of tuna we got would make up over 25, 6 ounce cans of tuna.
Used our seal-o matic to make up 3 bags of tuna. Looks like enough for 15 or 16 pints of cooked tuna.
The guy we brought the tuna from has his own web site and sells tuna in the cans; He told us he sold over 20,000 cans last year alone. His site is Bestalbacore.com
His phone number is 290 53025 or 269-7273.
Tried unloading the boat in the parking lot. Well ran into the first problem could not figure out how to get the boat off of the truck. Looked like the rope was not working right. Gave up came back to the RV Park and asked somebody how to get it to work. Funny had two guys try to help figure it out? We all decided to hand take it off. They went and got 4 other men to help. About the time we got it half way down the guys figured it was working right just had to use the electric winch a little longer. It work like they said but I still don’t think the rope should be that loose when you’re unloading the boat. Will have to check the good book today t see why it is doing what it is.
We put the wheels on the boat and hooked up the front end of the boat on the stinger. Towed the boat back to our pad worked like a bandit.
I think this is going to work out just fine. May try launching it tomorrow if the weather is favorable. Helen said she would help me. She is a true wife. Looks like it’s suppose to rain again tonight.
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October 3, 2007
Well it did indeed rain last night. Clear this morning but there expecting more rain off and on today. May not launch the boat like I wanted to. Still a little scared to get the boat in the water for the first time. Been told some horror stories about a couple of close calls by other fishermen. I guess the main thing a person has to remember is keep your eyes open all he time for rouge waves. Actually this is good that they shared there experience with me. I would much rather learn some the dangers you can face ahead of time so I don’t get in trouble myself. Need to make sure you use your life preserver at all times on the Ocean.
Got thinking in the middle of the night I can see how easy it is to launch the boat but now the big thing I did not think about is how do you get the boat out again? Since the boat is on wheels it would appear the boat would want to roll backwards on the boat ramp. Will need to talk to the guy again about how he does his. I think you have to wear your boots
Since the weather is iffy today I may just go crabbing on the dock. Not sure yet what to do.
The plan we came up with when we leave is to try and get the motor home out of here by 9:30 Sunday morning. Go and pick up the fish which should be frozen from the Charter boat company. Will need to freeze them and get them up to Alma’s and Ed’s and put them in there freezer. Will spend the night there and leave the first thing Monday morning. The map shows the trip as being around 375 miles. Or about an 8 hour trip. We will leave the motor home at Alma’s house.
Went by the Charter boat outfit on the docks to ask if they had freezer storage room for any fish I may catch when I go out. They had the freezer space for my catch. I told them I was going to seal-Omatic the fish first then bring them back so they can freeze them and I will pick them up Sunday morning before I leave.
I asked which b oat we were going out on and she said the lucky Shamrock which is a smaller boat then the Betty Kay. There is one problem right now and that is he weather on Friday there suppose o have 12 foot swells which would be rally rough fishing. I may have to go out Saturday instead. I guess they will fillet the fish for me which will make it much nicer.
I am hoping I can catch some larger Ling Cods to help give us more fish to take home. Would like enough so I could give Alma & Ed a couple of packages.
Talked to one of the older gentleman about my boat launching with my new stinger and how much trouble is it going to be getting the boat back on the stinger. He said no problem just back the truck in the water and pull the boat up to he shaft and insert the pin and drive away. Makes sense to me.
Went into town again today to get an alarm clock and beer. Had a hell of a time finding a pin for the boat rod. Finally found one at Napa Auto store. Should have gone there first.
Went to Bi-Mart got the beer then to Wal-Mart for the alarm Clock. Got everything we needed. When we got done at Bi-Mart it started to rain and boy did it come down. Regular downpour. Rained for around 1 ½ hours or so. I mean it came down in buckets.
Was going grabbing but glad I didn’t would have soaked. Poor Helen spent all the time getting the water out of the boat in the morning now it’s full again.
I have to admit she is a true trooper.
Were going to have Beef ribs tonight. If the weather is pretty good tomorrow may try to get the boat out again. Would like to try it out and see if it works. One thing I know is you don’t want to get out there when it has large waves. They are predicting 12 foot waves Friday.
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October 4, 2007
Something new for a change it rained all night again. Surprise. Got up at 6 this morning looks clear out again but time will tell. Looked like this yesterday. Checking on the wave height today showed wave height about 10.6 feet a little lower then the 12 foot predicted. Will check with the charter today to see if it’s still a go for tomorrow.
I have a feeling that Helen does not really like it up here. I believe its all because of the rain, which I can see her point of view on this. I really don’t think it like this all winter but it’s enough to make you think about it. I am in hope if we come back the winter months will not be as bad as they seem right now.
Will check with the RV place were staying at and see about advance reservations. I really don’t think we have a chance in hell to get a couple of months earlier in the year say around Aug, Sept, Oct 2008.
Got reservations for next year for a 2 month period. Aug 15 2007 to September 15 Space 33. & September 15th to October 15th 2008 Space 30.
Total cost for two months is $670.00. Or $335.00. Pretty cheap when you consider this includes electric water and use of the fish cleaning station. $11.17 per day.
Contacted the Carter boat out fit to make sure we were still going out tomorrow. The lady told me it was iffy. I guess I will have to show up tomorrow morning to make sure it’s a go or no go.
The Lady told me we would be going out on the Shamrock boat which is a little smaller the Betty Kay.
I asked her if it was if I caught anything if I could store it in there freezer she told me no biggie. More then happy too. Was a little overcast again. Some morning showers but ok other then that.
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Well it did indeed rain last night. Clear this morning but there expecting more rain off and on today. May not launch the boat like I wanted to. Still a little scared to get the boat in the water for the first time. Been told some horror stories about a couple of close calls by other fishermen. I guess the main thing a person has to remember is keep your eyes open all he time for rouge waves. Actually this is good that they shared there experience with me. I would much rather learn some the dangers you can face ahead of time so I don’t get in trouble myself. Need to make sure you use your life preserver at all times on the Ocean.
Got thinking in the middle of the night I can see how easy it is to launch the boat but now the big thing I did not think about is how do you get the boat out again? Since the boat is on wheels it would appear the boat would want to roll backwards on the boat ramp. Will need to talk to the guy again about how he does his. I think you have to wear your boots
Since the weather is iffy today I may just go crabbing on the dock. Not sure yet what to do.
The plan we came up with when we leave is to try and get the motor home out of here by 9:30 Sunday morning. Go and pick up the fish which should be frozen from the Charter boat company. Will need to freeze them and get them up to Alma’s and Ed’s and put them in there freezer. Will spend the night there and leave the first thing Monday morning. The map shows the trip as being around 375 miles. Or about an 8 hour trip. We will leave the motor home at Alma’s house.
Went by the Charter boat outfit on the docks to ask if they had freezer storage room for any fish I may catch when I go out. They had the freezer space for my catch. I told them I was going to seal-Omatic the fish first then bring them back so they can freeze them and I will pick them up Sunday morning before I leave.
I asked which b oat we were going out on and she said the lucky Shamrock which is a smaller boat then the Betty Kay. There is one problem right now and that is he weather on Friday there suppose o have 12 foot swells which would be rally rough fishing. I may have to go out Saturday instead. I guess they will fillet the fish for me which will make it much nicer.
I am hoping I can catch some larger Ling Cods to help give us more fish to take home. Would like enough so I could give Alma & Ed a couple of packages.
Talked to one of the older gentleman about my boat launching with my new stinger and how much trouble is it going to be getting the boat back on the stinger. He said no problem just back the truck in the water and pull the boat up to he shaft and insert the pin and drive away. Makes sense to me.
Went into town again today to get an alarm clock and beer. Had a hell of a time finding a pin for the boat rod. Finally found one at Napa Auto store. Should have gone there first.
Went to Bi-Mart got the beer then to Wal-Mart for the alarm Clock. Got everything we needed. When we got done at Bi-Mart it started to rain and boy did it come down. Regular downpour. Rained for around 1 ½ hours or so. I mean it came down in buckets.
Was going grabbing but glad I didn’t would have soaked. Poor Helen spent all the time getting the water out of the boat in the morning now it’s full again.
I have to admit she is a true trooper.
Were going to have Beef ribs tonight. If the weather is pretty good tomorrow may try to get the boat out again. Would like to try it out and see if it works. One thing I know is you don’t want to get out there when it has large waves. They are predicting 12 foot waves Friday.
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October 4, 2007
Something new for a change it rained all night again. Surprise. Got up at 6 this morning looks clear out again but time will tell. Looked like this yesterday. Checking on the wave height today showed wave height about 10.6 feet a little lower then the 12 foot predicted. Will check with the charter today to see if it’s still a go for tomorrow.
I have a feeling that Helen does not really like it up here. I believe its all because of the rain, which I can see her point of view on this. I really don’t think it like this all winter but it’s enough to make you think about it. I am in hope if we come back the winter months will not be as bad as they seem right now.
Will check with the RV place were staying at and see about advance reservations. I really don’t think we have a chance in hell to get a couple of months earlier in the year say around Aug, Sept, Oct 2008.
Got reservations for next year for a 2 month period. Aug 15 2007 to September 15 Space 33. & September 15th to October 15th 2008 Space 30.
Total cost for two months is $670.00. Or $335.00. Pretty cheap when you consider this includes electric water and use of the fish cleaning station. $11.17 per day.
Contacted the Carter boat out fit to make sure we were still going out tomorrow. The lady told me it was iffy. I guess I will have to show up tomorrow morning to make sure it’s a go or no go.
The Lady told me we would be going out on the Shamrock boat which is a little smaller the Betty Kay.
I asked her if it was if I caught anything if I could store it in there freezer she told me no biggie. More then happy too. Was a little overcast again. Some morning showers but ok other then that.
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October 5, 2007
Could not sleep hardly last night have stomach cramp (Gas) and muscle cramps in my toes and legs. Had to get up and take a quinine pill around 12 or so. Had a hard time getting b back to sleep but managed to finally did it. I got up at 5 am one hour earlier then the 6 in which I had planned on since we weren’t expected to leave until. 7:30 was a little foggy and cool this morning I check the wave height again to see whet it was doing out there was going fishing. Still running high at 6 am around 12 to 13 feet.
Got my heavy duty clothes on. Which include a snow suit and my long johns as well as my Cortex coat. I figured being that cold I better dress accordingly. Arrive over at the Charter boat office around: 7:15 and the skipper said it was a go. Helen left me off since she needs to go to town for a few things. She is supposed to pick me up around 12 that afternoon assuming we come home with a limit. The limit is 6 rock fish of which 2 can be Ling Cods.
There are only 5 of us going out which should make it more comfortable. One couple from Washington and the other a father and daughter from Idaho. Well needless to say the young girl got sea sick of course before the day was over I would get sick also. And indeed I did around 10 am or so. The waves were huge at least 13 to 14 foot high it was indeed rough.
The skipper took us way down toward Argo point were we fished in 180 feet of water foe a while then we move over to another area that was about 80 feet or so. We were fortunate since we were so close to Argo point to see lots of whale. The Skipper made a point to show us them.
We each caught 6 Rock fish of Which one was a Vermiclin Bright Orange Rock fish all the rest of the fish were some what small which consisted of Black Rock fish . I figured I ended up with around 5 to 6 lbs of fillets, pretty costly for so little fish and here again no big ones I figuring on the cost of the trip might expensive $65.00 for the boat, $5.00 for the tip to the deck hand and $5.00 for the fillets. Now if you figure that out per lb you come up with a $12.50 per lb. Hell for that cost I could have purchased a lot of Ling Cod fillets fro almost the same price well not quite Ling Cod is going for around $14.00 lb
And of course the would be equivalent to around 40 lbs of Tuna. Next time I will be sure and take some sea sick medicine before I leave dumb me.
Found out from the Charter boat outfit I can get Dry Ice at Fred Meyer in Coos Bay. Will get some Sunday after noon before we head up to Alma’s. Fred Meyers is located on Highway 101 heading towards Coquille.
Debated about going crabbing this afternoon but still woozy from my boat trip. Will wait until tomorrow when Helen & I can take our boat. May be for only a short time but we have to at least try it. Helen got me two Turkey legs for bait. Supposed to be good bait.
Talked to the guy today that is leavening also Sunday that helped me figure the problem with my boat carrier. He told me that he takes out his fishing pole while he is crabbing to help pass the time away. Does ok doesn’t catch any big one but lots of small ones. Worth a try. Most of the boats we saw out in the harbor were located near the entrance. Looking at the map I think we could do ok along the Northern portion of the Harbor near the boat ramp that the BLM has.
Talked to another gentleman last night that we met the day before was really interested in our Motor home loved it. Anyway he told me I could find one of those winches for lifting crab bots up from the marina store across the bridge out of Charleston. Ill takes a quick look tomorrow to see what there all about.
Helen made a big pot of chilly tonight sounds great. Actually pretty hungry. Ate two bowls of chili was great just enough spice and kick to make it perfect.
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October 6, 2007
Well another experience for us last night. We had too drunks that were wacky near the back of the motor home near the front office, dunker then a skunk laying on the payment. Helen finally had to call security to stop them. This is the first time we had any problems with drunks, but I guess that is to be expected to happen once in a while.
I think were still planning on going out to do some claming but will wait and see what the weather will do. Still hesitant to try it but I guess I will never know unless I try it.
I can’t believe it I really want Helen to go out with me for security for the first time. What ever happened to gusto Tom?
Would be nice to come back with a limit of crabs today but too much to ask for.
Never know will give it a real try.
Well we finally got the boat launched was pretty easy with the both of us. This was latter I the day then I want to try but we had to give it a try.
Any way the boat motor stated right up. First pull, was impressed. Helen & I headed out to the other side of the harbor being sure o stay away from the bar side where there was larger waves to the West of us. On the other side we saw some other crabbers with there pots out so we figured this to be a good spot. Dropped in both traps and waited few minutes went back a pulled the first one out and it had a nice keeper. Dropped the trap back down for our second set then went over and pulled up our other one. Crabs in his one also. Then it happened I watched the crab trap which I never figured on that the buoy of he first crab pot was slowly going under. We hurried over to the buoy to try and retrieve but too late. It went under. Went back and retrieved the second pot and pulled another crab pot out to check which had one legal one, Dropped the other one overboard assuming the same thing would not happen to it. Drifted away from the trap when we noted that this one was gong under also. Hurried over to where we thought the buoy as last seen but was too late. Dave Jones took both of them.
A hard lesion learned. Talked other crabbers and the told me I should have had a depth finder. Now I know why. I think we set the traps into too deep of water. There goes 45 dollars down the drain. Going to have to buy more traps but will need to be much hard lesson to learn.
Anyway got two large keepers but will give them to Ed and Alma.
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October 7, 2007
Got Propane early in the am at 2.60 per gallon at the Rv site. We left the Rv park around 11 am. Found Fred Meyer store ok. Had a little lunch there not bad had some type of oriental chicken with a spicy sausage. It’s a big store I would say every bit as big as Wal-Mart. The have a good Varity of items there however noticed they were pretty expensive. Got the dry ice at .99 per lb. got 8 lb block should be enough to make it home will leave it in the freezer overnight before we pack the Ice chest for home.
Got up to Ed's & Alma house around 2:30 or so. Had everything loaded and ready to go for the next day except for the perishables and some minor items. Gave Ed and Alma one pack of fish & the Crab.
Well another experience for us last night. We had too drunks that were wacky near the back of the motor home near the front office, dunker then a skunk laying on the payment. Helen finally had to call security to stop them. This is the first time we had any problems with drunks, but I guess that is to be expected to happen once in a while.
I think were still planning on going out to do some claming but will wait and see what the weather will do. Still hesitant to try it but I guess I will never know unless I try it.
I can’t believe it I really want Helen to go out with me for security for the first time. What ever happened to gusto Tom?
Would be nice to come back with a limit of crabs today but too much to ask for.
Never know will give it a real try.
Well we finally got the boat launched was pretty easy with the both of us. This was latter I the day then I want to try but we had to give it a try.
Any way the boat motor stated right up. First pull, was impressed. Helen & I headed out to the other side of the harbor being sure o stay away from the bar side where there was larger waves to the West of us. On the other side we saw some other crabbers with there pots out so we figured this to be a good spot. Dropped in both traps and waited few minutes went back a pulled the first one out and it had a nice keeper. Dropped the trap back down for our second set then went over and pulled up our other one. Crabs in his one also. Then it happened I watched the crab trap which I never figured on that the buoy of he first crab pot was slowly going under. We hurried over to the buoy to try and retrieve but too late. It went under. Went back and retrieved the second pot and pulled another crab pot out to check which had one legal one, Dropped the other one overboard assuming the same thing would not happen to it. Drifted away from the trap when we noted that this one was gong under also. Hurried over to where we thought the buoy as last seen but was too late. Dave Jones took both of them.
A hard lesion learned. Talked other crabbers and the told me I should have had a depth finder. Now I know why. I think we set the traps into too deep of water. There goes 45 dollars down the drain. Going to have to buy more traps but will need to be much hard lesson to learn.
Anyway got two large keepers but will give them to Ed and Alma.
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October 7, 2007
Got Propane early in the am at 2.60 per gallon at the Rv site. We left the Rv park around 11 am. Found Fred Meyer store ok. Had a little lunch there not bad had some type of oriental chicken with a spicy sausage. It’s a big store I would say every bit as big as Wal-Mart. The have a good Varity of items there however noticed they were pretty expensive. Got the dry ice at .99 per lb. got 8 lb block should be enough to make it home will leave it in the freezer overnight before we pack the Ice chest for home.
Got up to Ed's & Alma house around 2:30 or so. Had everything loaded and ready to go for the next day except for the perishables and some minor items. Gave Ed and Alma one pack of fish & the Crab.
Visited with Ed and Alma until around 8:00 am or so. Ed is going to take the motor home over to an outfit in Myrtle Point to see how much it will cost too install the levelers for the motor home. I hope its cheaper then Les Schwabs, quote. If I remember was over $550.00.
Since were leaving the motor home up there for a month or so it will give Ed time to see if he can get the motor home fixed.
Went back to the RV for the Night.
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October 8, 2007
Got up around 6 am to get ready for our trip home. We had a couple of cups of coffee. and a short visit with Ed and Alma. Went back out to the Motor home to finish loading everything Left there house for home at 8:30 am Ed figured we would get home around 6:30 that night. We stopped in Medford for breakfast at a Denny’s. Not like I remembered it cost us $17.00 for the breakfast which was the standard eggs sausage and hash browns. Some more gas in Klamath Fall not sure what I paid there We took highway 5 this time was a little quicker then from there we took 89 which was a good road. . The had done some work on it earlier that year and Donald told us it was a mess However the work was pretty much done only one stop for about 5 minutes. Got gas in Yerka which I recall was around $3.09 per gallon.
Arrived home at 5:05 in the evening made good time was not as tiring as I thought it would be. Everything looked the same. You could still see remnants of snow on Thompson Peak from the last storm. Was somewhat glad to be home, but not over thrilled. Was thinking about the winterizing we still have to do.
Johnny came up and visited us for a while. I guess Todd’s having problems with his new teacher already.
Johnny mentioned something about Gary wanting to come up but, can’t if were not home for Thanksgiving. I told Helen we could plan on an early Thanksgiving dinner here early next month before we leave back for Oregon.
I am a little concerned that the weather may not be as favorable as I would like during the winter. Time will tell.
We have to get a lot together before we leave back to Oregon. Not sure when we will be able to leave. I am hoping early the 2nd week of November.
Roughly figuring I think the trip was over 350 miles one way.
Johnny came up and visited us for a while. I guess Todd’s having problems with his new teacher already.
Johnny mentioned something about Gary wanting to come up but, can’t if were not home for Thanksgiving. I told Helen we could plan on an early Thanksgiving dinner here early next month before we leave back for Oregon.
I am a little concerned that the weather may not be as favorable as I would like during the winter. Time will tell.
We have to get a lot together before we leave back to Oregon. Not sure when we will be able to leave. I am hoping early the 2nd week of November.
Roughly figuring I think the trip was over 350 miles one way.
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