SOUTH JETTY TTN, FLORENCE, OR

July 21-28, 2010

Our early morning trip to Junction City went right on schedule and we arrived at the Les Schwab company right at 11 am, passing the now defunct Country Coach factory that used to produce beautiful motorhomes by the score. The place now looks forlorn and deserted although everything looks like it is just on a temporary vacation. Probably not, but it would be nice. Colt, our salesman, was ready to mount our six new Michelin tires and when he said they were fresh he wasn’t kidding; they were only two months old and, imagine my surprise, they were made in Spain. How they got from a factory in Spain to the small town of Junction City in only two months still amazes me. These are Michelin XVA+2 Energy 275/70X22.5 tires which replaced the six year old original XRV 255/80X22.5 tires. They have the same rolling radius but are an inch wider and will carry a considerably heavier load.

Three hours later, after leaving Les Schwab, we hightailed It to the nearest gas station, at Safeway, and while refueling at an incredibly slow speed (30 minutes for 80 gallons), we chatted with a young man in a new Country Coach motorhome who had pulled in behind us and was impatiently waiting for us to finish. Turns out he and four or five other specialists had gotten together and were finishing up building a few Country Coaches and getting them ready for sale. They were also doing some refurbishing of older models. It was interesting talking with him.


Back on the road, we were on our way to the Thousand Trails South Jetty Preserve in Florence, OR, on the Pacific Ocean This has never been one of our favored campgrounds but it is convenient and the price is right. The new tires felt very good, with excellent road holding, very secure and a noticeably improved ride. It took us awhile to find a suitable campsite, as most sites here are under heavy cover of trees and satellite reception is poor. After two trips around the campground, we settled on a site and with fingers crossed, put up the satellite dish. Bingo! Who’d have guessed? Through a tiny hole in the tree branches, our dish zeroed in on the 119 satellite but not always on the 110. No big deal. As long as we could get Speed Channel for the Formula One race over the weekend, we (I) were happy. It had been a stressful couple of days, so we had an early dinner and then got some rest.


Coming from San Francisco we should have known better than to spend July on the Pacific Ocean Shore-----fog, wind and cold, at least for us. It would clear in the late morning so there wasn’t much reason to get up too early to greet the new day. It was dark in the woods anyway.

On Thursday afternoon Fran’s browsing through the internet found the Seafood Station in an old gas station on Hwy-101 that had very good reviews so we headed there for a light lunch (they are known for their clam chowder). We were just finishing up lunch when the phone rang and it was Dianne Wolfe, asking where we were. She and Brett had just arrived with their friends Beau and Kitty Speed, and they were camped at the Siuslaw Harbor Campground, which turned out to be quite nice for a basic site overlooking the Siuslaw River and the boatdock. A few minutes later, they all joined us at the Seafood Station for lunch, and we enjoyed another hour in the restaurant.

Dianne invited us over for an early dinner of appetizers and her home-made sushi. We brought over a chunk of honey-smoked salmon and crackers and had an enjoyable evening in the Speeds’ coach, a newly-purchased Monaco Dynasty.


The following day, Friday, Dianne went to the pier and bought a beautiful albacore tuna fish fresh from the ocean. They even cleaned and filleted it for her and she marinated and grilled it on Beau’s “George” (Not me, a George Foreman grill). It turned out just great along with her homemade wasabi mayo, Fran’s grilled zucchini and Kitty’s rice and apple cobbler, which started out to be an apple pie but “fell” out of the oven on the way to our outdoor table. Mmm-mmm good! Following dinner we headed for the Florence Playhouse to see the play “I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running” in three acts. Act I rated a C; Act II rated a D and had a few folks heading out the door but Act III was the hit of the evening by far and had everyone laughing. Fran was laughing so hard, she was crying, so it was a good thing that we stayed. It topped off a very nice evening.

The Wolfes and Speeds left for Newport the next morning, Saturday, while Fran and I explored Florence and did some shopping. I felt like I was coming down with one of the many forms of the crud, and it wasn’t pleasant. Fran had found what sounded like a good dinner deal at the local Casino, the Three Rivers and by late afternoon I felt well enough to go. They were featuring Prime Rib and Crab, and Fran cannot pass up a crab dinner. While I’m not crazy for casinos in general, I must admit that they usually serve quite good food, which they certainly did here.

Sunday morning we tried the campground dining room for breakfast and it turned out to be excellent, better than we expected. We drove into Florence, did some exploring and Fran found the fish market on the pier and bought two 2-lb Dungeness crabs. However, on Sunday night, I started running a slight fever and felt really bad, so Monday I ended up staying in bed most of the day. By evening, I was feeling much better.

Tuesday, with the weather improving and finally seeing some sunshine, (the temperature got all the way up to 62 deg) we were off to see the coastal beaches and waves crashing on the shore up to the Heceta Lighthouse.

Wednesday we will be off to join the Caterpillar Engine Club Rally at the Pacific Shores Outdoor Resorts in Newport, OR. So that will be all for now ~~~~~~~~~~ Bye!