Yesterday we toured Sheels Sporting Goods store with fish tanks, presidential anamatronic manicans, magnificent taxidermied animals and the most helpful staff I've ever seen. It obviously helps to have an employee owned store. One last breakfast buffet “deal” at Fudruckers and we headed south. We decided to travel down US 395, although many of our “advisers” wondered “why” because of traffic, logging trucks, etc. We discovered a wonderfully scenic roadway with minimum traffic on the highway but chances to see National Forests, scenic visitor centers, and magnificent vistas of isolated lakes and mountains with glaciers. We saw some amazing sights of lakes, though drained by LA.'s quest for water, multitudes of people, though cramming themselves into Mammoth Lakes resort areas on Sunday (preventing us from taking a bus to see the Devil's Post-pile National Monumen... read more

Reno is truly the biggest little city as you can get around quickly while covering a lot of territory UNTIL you get off the expressway and then you discover they have the longest traffic lights ever. They also have the highest “room tax” we've discovered (since they affix it to our RV daily rate) 13.5 %. Motto= Soak the tourist since they don't vote! We've enjoyed the people and ability to get things done: RV fixed, car brakes repaired. The last time we were in Nevada we had the pickup truck's brakes repaired. Is it something about the mountains to get here? Today we had a wonderful auto trip around Lake Tahoe, experiencing the tourism flux looking for a parking place and the beauty of picnicking beside this beautiful lake. By mid afternoon we'd returned to ... read more

Moving south from Eureka we continue enjoying the redwoods, especially as we traverse old US 101 – The Avenue of the Giants. There were times when our 36 foot motorhome seemed to squeeze between the “giants” and we wondered how the trucks, etc of old managed to travel this major north-south highway in years past. The new 101 is a four lane marvel paralleling the Eel River and various meetings of the old and new allow you to stay long enough to visit the wonderful Humboldt Redwoods State Park Visitor Center and then escape to the new highway. We were fortunate up the coast to be able to walk a short trail through an especially preserved grove. Our overnight RV park turns out to be on the floor of the valley retirement ranch home of the ... read more

Back on the road again with a fixed air pressure guage and, a new problem, a repaired front shade holding bracket. We stop at Oregon Caves National Monument and, after reading NPS guidance on the internet, park at a very welcome Illinois Valley Information Center and take the car for the 19 mile curvy ride. The cave is interesting but my sore back could only tolerate the bending while taking the “sneak peak” the NPS offered, but that was enough. The drive itself was amazing. Back on the highway we enjoy the wonderful forest scenes and river gorge views. Redwood National and State Parks Visitors Center gave us another stamp and overview of the park to aid our later viewing. Passport America offers ½ price parks and we proceed up US 101 to a very nice ... read more

Friday, July 29th along the Oregon coast began with a little morning fog but by mid morning the sun came out and the welcome warmth returned with the winds. The temps are still in the ideal range vs what we expect when we venture inland. We brunched at our newly favorite restaurant across the street and explored the local communities. In the evening with early bird and senior citizen discounts our seafood buffet was reasonable and the quality and quantity in the excellent range. They seem to have a unique flavor to their chowders here and this same type of flavoring is used to boil the shrimp and flavor other seafood. The Mill Casino is owned by the Coquille Native Americans, a name derived from the native word for a fish (lamprey) that was once very ... read more

Proceeding south along the coast the scenery continues to expand the mind as does the strength of the many cyclers we pass going up the hills. There are an equal number of motorcycles here as folks enjoy the outdoor life. Our RV parks are carved out of hillsides and forests, making their internal navigation challenging but the spots occupancy enjoyable. In Florence we “ride the dunes”, enjoying part of the 50 miles of amazing centerpieces of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area (yes I got the rubber stamp at the U.S. Forest Service office in Reedsport). These dunes are made of “wet” sand, fed by natural springs, which make them hard packed and easy to navigate in off road vehicles and the sand not blowing a lot. We do experience 26 mph wind at our overnight ... read more

Thursday we move toward the coast. Drizzling, cool rain amplifies the traffic concerns through Portland so we cross the Columbia River before the city and proceed up I-5 on the Washington side, crossing back over at Longview. We rejoin US 30 through Astoria where we pick up US 101 and start down the coast. Our stop tonight is Seaside's Encore Park which turns out to be several short blocks from the center of this Hampton Beach (NH) style summer beach community. A broad beach allows easy access with free parking (if you can find some in the heat of the day), usual beach fare including food and souvenirs and small hi-rise motels/hotels. We set off the next day in search of National Wildlife Refuges and National Parks by going inland and, instead, viewed clear cut (logged) ... read more

Tuesday, we thought it would be fun to drive a circuitous route around Mt Hood. Starting off downhill we passed by Fred Meyer's Walmartlike grocery plus store. They are so successful here that Wallyworld announced a new competitive campaign to build in this area. We visited Ft Vancouver, an NPS National Historic Site, over the river in Washington, and then navigated our way around the crazy hills and curvy streets of Portland to the Governor Hotel and the noon meeting of the Portland Rotary Club, established in 1910. Pendleton Woolen Mills CEO Morton Bishop III articulated the history, since 1863, and philosophies of his highly successful family owned company. They only weave wool from local farms in their own mills and use in-house staff for most activities; the rest they farm out to local area contractors. ... read more

Washington's and Oregon's rolling hills and well maintained roads aided our completion of the trip to Redmond. The magnificent mountains in Oregon provided some foothills we navigated and also some outstanding scenery for the Good Sam Rally. With over 3000 rigs parked in a variety of lots surrounding the Deschutes County Expo Center buildings we enjoyed a variety of activities including looking at new RVs, browsing through vendors offering “must have” stuff, seminars provided by vendors on new concepts and information, and opportunities for meeting others the Good Sam way. The Good Sam CEO gave very inspirational presentations to Life Members explaining his efforts to make the Club and supportive organizations user friendly. The evening entertainment offerings included Vince Gill's concert delayed by rain and Peter Noone's (Herman's Hermits) electrifying performa... read more

Sunday in Calgary was relaxing and a chance to meet with close friends who are Calgorians. They hosted us at a private club with a wonderful Sunday buffet. Monday was museum and Rotary Make up day with a band rehearsal in the evening. Tuesday began early with an equipment loading and bus caravan to a local Mall for a Calgary Caravan pancake breakfast and presentation of our show. After loading the buses we arrived at the Saddledome for our next Stampede show presentation and free time until the evening. We repeated our show with a great audience reception after having an opportunity to see the fantastic show bands perform. Then it was “home” for packing and, for us, preparing for an early morning RV departure. We learned that, although we're not a competition band we were ... read more