06-30-10

Monday morning, we left Brookings around 8:00. It was foggy and cold and the fog persisted until we got down to Scotia, CA. then it cleared off and got progressively warmer as we went south. Just north of Myers Flat we turned onto the "Avenue Of The Giants".



We got to Becky and Dennis's place in Myers Flat Around 11:30



and visited with them for a couple of hours then we all went to lunch in Miranda.
We left them in Maranda with promises to stop by their place again on the way back north.
We left Miranda around 3:30 and stopped at Garberville for gas. It was getting very warm so a few miles south of Garberville we stopped and put the top down on the jeep. The rest of the ride was uneventful and we arrived in Santa Rosa around 6:00.
Tuesday morning, I got up early and started on some chores that needed doing. I got the irrigation turned on, trimmed the grape vines on the Patio cover (they were taking over) cut down some of the ferns around the patio and hooked up the drip line on the Peach tree.
I spent some time trying to figure out the idle problem on the jeep but had no success. I went over all the vacuum hoses and electrical plugs again. I checked the spark plugs and inside the distributor cap. I noticed a little pitting on the roter so I smoothed that out with some emery paper. When I started the jeep, it ran just fine. After it warmed up it idled at around 500 to 700 RPM, just perfect.
I had to go to the hardware store to get some PVC cement to fix a broken irrigation pipe. By the time I got to the store the jeep was back to idling at 1000 rpm and bucking at slow speed.
Other than that it runs great so I am not going to stress over it. I'll figure it out eventually or it will just stop running and then it will be easier to find the problem.
Last night we went to Joanne and Dave's for dinner and had a nice visit.

Today I have to go get fingerprinted for a concealed carry permit.
Here is the story on that:
In February Dennis and I took a concealed Carry class in Quartzsite. The permit is supposed to be good in 34 states. They told us that we would get the permit in a couple of months.
By the time I left Quartzsite I hadn't heard anything from the issuing entity so I figured that the permit would be waiting for me at home in Santa Rosa.
When we got home we were going through the mail and I got a large envelope with a piece of paper stating that the finger prints that were taken at the class weren't usable so I had to get re-fingerprinted. They sent me a card for the prints so now I have to find a place to get fingerprinted. I am going to call the local police station and see if I can do it there.
I just talked to the police department and found out that they don't do fingerprinting for the public so I looked in the yellow pages and found two places in town that do it. I will be getting that done today.

We will be leaving for Indian Creek tomorrow (Thursday) and won't be back until Monday evening so no blog until probably Tuesday.

06-27-10

Patti did laundry today and while she did so, I spent the morning in the parking lot at the wharf tightening the "U" bolts on the new springs.
Before I could do that I had to go to the auto parts store and purchase a 1/2 inch drive to 3/8 inch drive adapter so I could use a my only deep socket which is a 3/8 drive on the bolts. It is a good thing that I took the time to tighten the bolts because each one took at least 4 turns before they were as tight as I could get them with my 1/2 inch drive ratchet.
We have the jeep loaded with everything but last minute items so we are ready to leave in the morning. The plan is to get up early and leave by 7:30, top off the gas tank, stop for breakfast at "Matties" and be on our way.
We plan to stop for a visit with Becky and Dennis in Myers Flat and hopefully be in Santa Rosa by around 5:00 tomorrow evening.

06-26-10

We took the jeep for a little test drive today. First we drove up the south
bank road and took a dirt road that we hadn't tried before.
The road was rough and we noticed that it didn't feel as rough with the new springs as it would have with the old ones. We got to the end of the road and had to turn around in a tight steep spot.
We had no problems and the tires didn't spin even though we were in two wheel drive.
From there we drove into town to the market to get a few things.
On the way out of the parking lot we noticed that someone had put soap in the fountain.



On the way out of town we decided to go along the north bank road and went down to the river at "Social Security Bar" and drove along a gravel bar.
The last time we were on the bar it was very rough and we bounced a lot. This time it was much smoother and even when we drove through the sand we had no problems in
2WD.

While we were there we watched a guy fly fishing for a while.

He didn't get any strikes while we were watching.

Patti got a picture of a Stellers Jay


I am satisfied that the mod's we had done to the jeep were successful. :o)

06-25-10

Okay, its been a while since the last blog.
We are back in Brookings after spending a couple days with Kathi and Bob in Glendale where we waited to get the mods to the jeep finished.
Bob took us back to Grants Pass and Serious toys around 9:30 Thursday morning to get Clifford.
When we picked up the jeep , Jeremy at Serious Toys, suggested that when we got back to Brookings we take the jeep to Les Swabb and have them re-torque the the springs

The Mod's look good and the jeep is about two inches higher.

We left Grants Pass around 10:30 and arrived in Brookings two hours later.
Along the way as we passed a truck coming the other way, something hit the drivers side mirror on the jeep and broke out the glass. Damn!!!
When we got to Brookings it was lunch time so we stopped at a burger joint on the wharf that our neighbor, Dave had told us about. Their regular burger was huge and if we had known how big they were we would have ordered only one and split it. I am glad we didn't order their 1/4 pounder.

After lunch I went to two auto parts stores looking for a mirror that would work. The one I found isn't a very good one but it will do until we get home.

This morning we went into town to do get the springs re-torqued. We got to Les Swabb's around 10:00 and They told us to come back at 11:00 to get the work done.

Yesterday I noticed that the jeep was idling fast and a little rough and also bucking a lot at slow speed like there was a vacuum leak. I looked it over but couldn't find any vacuum lines off so I thought there might be a sensor going bad. We had time so I took the jeep to a shop to see if they could hook it up to a machine and see if a sensor was fragged.

The guy at the shop said that he couldn't hook it to his machine because it was too old and didn't have the right connections. He did come out to the jeep however and we looked over the hoses and connections. I suggested that I start it up so he could hear it run. I did so and the damned thing ran just fine idling around 700 RPM's, nice and smooth.
When I get home I will do a tune up and give it a good going over. I can't do any work on the jeep here in the RV park.

We got back to Les Swabb's at 11:00 and waited until about 11:30 when the guy that was supposed to re-torque the springs came out and told us that his boss said that he couldn't do it due to liability concerns. He said that because they hadn't done the original job they couldn't do the re-torque.
I guess I will have to do that when I get home too.

06-21-10

We took a ride up the coast yesterday.
We stopped near the Pistol River to watch the wind surfers for a while. There was a wind surfing contest here this weekend.




Continuing north, we drove through Gold Beach across the Rogue River and about 6 miles south of Port Orford we took the turn off at Humbug Mountain State Park.
There is a very nice campground there and a road that the map shows going over the mountains that makes a loop back to the coast.
I was hoping that the road would lead us to a creek or river, as I am constantly looking for fish-able water because I want to know that there are places to fish before I spend the money for a "Non Resident License".
Somewhere we missed a turn off and after following a newly graded road over the mountains for a few miles we came to a col-de-sac.
There were some nice views Along the way


and we saw many wild Rhododendrons in bloom.



Today is laundry day.

Tomorrow we are going to Grants Pass to get the rear lockers and new springs installed on the Jeep.
This morning I noticed that the seal on the rear differential is leaking so I hope I can get that fixed at the same time.
We will be spending the night at Kathi and Bob's.
Hopefully the jeep will be done by Wednesday afternoon. If so, we will be able come back to Brookings Wednesday evening.

06-20-10

On yesterdays ride, we again went out the south bank road and after taking a couple small trails we struck a major dirt road and headed south.

Eventually we came to the Winchuck River.
The Winchuck is a very pretty stream and looks like it may be good for trout fishing.
After a few miles we crossed Wheeler Creek

and drove along Bear Creek for a short distance.


Wheeler and Bear Creeks come together to form the Winchuck river. They are both clear fast moving streams and look like good trout streams. They are very cold with lots of treas and brush along the sides


so I think to fish them, Hip boots or waders would be very handy.

The road (1107) climbs into the mountains, winds around for several miles and eventually comes back to the Chetco river.
One thing I am noticing is that my GPS is almost completely useless in this heavily forested country. It can't find any satellites unless you can get to a large clearing


which are very few and far between.

Along the way we saw a Rubber Boa.

And a Tiger Lilly.

06-18-10

I was looking at our Oregon Atlas yesterday and noticed a road (Carpenterville Road) going north, parallel to 101 with many small roads going off it into the mountains. I told Patti that we should check it out so we got our lunch together, loaded the camera, the GPS and laptop into the jeep and took off for a ride.
As it turned out all the roads that I saw on the map were private driveways. We followed Carpinterville Road all the way to the Pistol River where we drove along the north bank into the hills. We took a couple small roads toward the river which ended at private property. We continued along the county road until it also ended at private property.
Patti and I are becoming a little disappointed in the back road possibilities in this area.
The area is still beautiful and we did get some nice pictures on the ride.

Coastal rocks.



A bridge.



A small waterfall.



A Llama.



And of course, flowers.





We will continue to check out the possibilities but there is so much private stuff around here that it doesn't look promising. The best area so far is out the north bank of the Chetco as it eventually goes into the Siskiyou National Forest and there are some dirt roads in there but they all appear to be dead ends.

Yesterday afternoon, a couple from Central Point, Oregon pulled into the spot next to us with the best designed Tear-Drop trailer that I have seen.
The trailer is called a T@B.



The trailer is tall enough to actually stand up in, has enough room to spend time inside when the weather gets bad



and is still light enough (around 1700 lbs.) to pull with a small car.

It has more counter space than our motor home,
with a two burner stove, a microwave, a fridge and sink.



The only thing that it doesn't have is a toilette and shower but for weekend or vacation camping in campgrounds it looks perfect.
If any one is interested in more information here is a web sight.

http://www.roamingtimes.com/rvreports/tab-teardrop-trailer.aspx

06-17-10

Yesterday, after I finished the blog, around 1:00, we decided to take a short ride along the North bank of the Chetco River. The north side has a lot of access and camp grounds. most are fee areas. The day use fee is $10.00 per day. Half price for Golden age Pass.

We didn't take many pictures but Patti did get some nice shots of Flowers.







This a picture of the river was taken from a bridge about 10 miles up stream



The river is running high and fast at this time of year.

06-16-10

On Sunday we drove to Medford to meet up with Patti's sister and brother-in-law Kathi and Bob,




















at the Medford Railroad Museum















& Train Park.















They belong to a garden railroad club and have "run days" there on the second and fourth Sunday of every month.
The museum is on Berrydale St. behind the fire station.
They have a nice setup with a railroad museum.
It is all free and a great place to take the kids for an afternoon of fun.
There are two landscaped "G" scale electric train runs















Note:
I just noticed a new feature on the video's you can enlarge them to full screen by clicking on the arrows at the lower right corner of the video box.







and a small, ride-able steam and diesel (gas) trains.




The park closes at 3:00.

After leaving the park we went up to Kathi and Bob's place in Glendale.
The next day Patti and Kathi went to the Seven Feathers Casino while Bob and I drove the jeep to Grants Pass to see about getting rear lockers installed. The guy that does the lockers wasn't there so it was a wasted trip.
Patti lost $$ at the casino.
On Tuesday we stopped at "Serious Toys" on the way back to Brookings to check on the lockers.
After talking with the guy, we decided on the lockers we wanted and made an appointment for next Tuesday to get them installed. We discussed some other modifications and decided to go for them. The cost is a little more than I wanted to go but I think it will make a diference in how the jeep preforms.

06-13-10

Yesterday we took a ride east along the south bank of the Chetco River.
The road was paved for the first 5 miles or so but then became a narrow dirt road that went over the mountains where it eventually came to a larger dirt road.
We turned left and followed this road



until it came to a paved road that crossed the river to the north bank.
Along the way we were treated to grand vistas,



waterfalls



and wild flowers.

We followed the paved road back toward Brookings. At one spot along the way we were able to see our RV across the river.

We went to check out the Brookings port and Patti got a good picture of the Light house.

Today we are driving the jeep to Medford to meet up with Patties sister Kathy and brother-in-law Bob at the Medford Train Park. We will spend a couple of days visiting with them.
Patti wants to go with Kathy to Seven feathers casino and I want to check with Bob's
4X4 mechanic to possibly get rear lockers installed on my jeep. I think it might be cheaper in Oregon than at home in CA.

06-11-10

Well, we are finally settled in at the "ATRivers Edge RV Resort".

We spent last night at one of our favorite forest service campgrounds.
I have a hard time with the name of the camp ground, it is something like "Qusatanna"
It is on the south bank of the Rogue River 14 miles from Gold Beach, Oregon on Jerry's Flat Road and is one of the prettiest campgrounds around.
When we pulled in we were met by the local deer heard and a flock of turkeys.

Many camp spots are shaded and there are berry bushes that in the fall are full of berries.


There are even bat houses.


This morning we drove back toward Gold Beach and had breakfast at the "Indian Creek Cafe" It is in the same building as the original "Grants" pancake house.
The breakfast was good but not as good as Grants.
Several years ago Grants moved to town into a new building. Last year they converted to a Pizza Parlor.

We got to our spot on the South bank of the Chetco River around 11:30 and were setup by 12:00.

The river is right behind us and was pretty high and placid when we pulled in but when the tide changed it dropped a bit and became very fast. We are only a mile and a half from the ocean so the tides have a big effect on the river.

06-09-10

We left Klamath Falls around 9:30 and had a nice drive to Central Point, arriving at Kathleen's around12:00.

After visiting for a little while I drove into town and purchased a new fresh water pump.
It wasn't what I wanted but I didn't have many options. The old pump had an output of 5.8 GPM when it was working, the one I bought had an output of only 2.4 GPM.
The new pump was also physically smaller than the old one so I had to bend the lines to get them to connect to the fittings.
The first time I turned the pump on water sprayed from the output fitting.
I quickly turned off the switch and tightened the fitting. I tried it again and it didn't leak.
I filled the tank and found a leak at the Input fitting. I had to use a set of pump pliers to tighten it enough to stop the leak.

Kathleen and Frank asked us to stay but they already had a house full

and I hate to inconvenience folks so we left around 4:30 and drove to O'Brien and stopped at Lone Mountain RV resort.

Tomorrow we will be at a national forest campground on the Rogue River near Gold Beach

06-08-10

We are now in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Around 8:30 this morning we left Winnemucca, Nevada and had a very nice ride across the the northwestern part of Nevada and southern Oregon. It was very scenic with green fields, tall trees and swift running streams.



We arrived in Klamath Falls around 4:30.

Tomorrow we are going through Central Point, Oregon and will stop for a short visit with my niece Kathleen and her family. There is an RV supply place in Jackson so while we are in the area I will try to get a new pump for our fresh water system and install it.

06-07-10

You know, sometimes I'm my own worst enemy.

We decided to take Highway 93 to Wells, Nevada because yesterday we had to climb some very steep passes and the weather was very hot. I noticed that the engine temperature also reached the hot zone. Not quite to the red but hot none the less.
The over flow bottle was dry so I added water and we continued to Ely.

This morning I checked the bottle and found it was low so I added more water, then I took the cap off the radiator to make sure there was coolant in the radiator and found it to be full.
At the same time I checked the oil level and found it needing oil so I added a quart.

We left Ely around 8:30, I kept an eye on the temperature gauge as we traveled along and it stayed in the normal range. The whole time I could smell coolant and thought that perhaps I had over filled the bottle and as the coolant in the radiator expanded and it possibly was over flowing the over flow bottle. I could not find a place with enough room along the highway to pull over to check it out.
We got to wells and as soon as I pulled onto I-80 the temperature began to rise. By the time we got to the next exit the gauge was almost in the red.
I pulled off and found a spot to park.
I got out and opened the hood. There was coolant everywhere but it was not hot and there wasn't any steam coming out any where.
The bottle was a little over the "Hot Level".
I carefully removed the radiator cap and no steam escaped. I felt the radiator and it was cool to the touch. I looked everywhere and could not see any leakage or steam.
Finally, I started adding water to the radiator, of course when the water reached the bottom of the radiator and encountered the hot engine the filler tube became a geyser as hot water and steam shot out at me. Fortunately I heard it gurgling and got out of the way in time.

Here, I have to regress a bit.
In the morning I used the on-board water supply and pump to take my morning shower.
It worked fine for me but when Patti tried the water, the pump would no longer work.
We only had our drinking water to use for the radiator and only a couple of gallons of that. Therefore I had to crawl under the RV with an empty jug and have Patti open the drain in the fresh water tank and I collect the water in the jug. There was only one problem with that strategy. The drain was directly above the frame on the rig so the water hit the frame and spred out and dripped down in several places. Undaunted I found a short hose in one of the storage bins and managed to hold it against the drain hole and in this way I was able to fill a couple of jugs with water.

The engine was still hot and each time I tried putting water in it it would spit it out again. I finally decided that I needed to have some Coolant to add the radiator so I disconnected the jeep and drove back to Wells to buy coolant. By the time I returned to Plan "B" the engine had cooled down enough for me to fill the radiator. While all this was happening I had time to figure out what the problem was.

Do you know what it was?

Well, in the morning when I checked the radiator level I didn't get the cap back on tight enough and as the coolant expanded in the radiator it just spewed out of the cap until is was all gone. It took 138 miles to empty the radiator.

Any way I got the radiator filled and we got back on the road. I kept an eye on the temperature and it stayed in the low/normal range almost the whole way to Winnemucca except going over couple of passes where it rose to the high/normal mark. We stopped at one rest stop about half way where I checked under the hood and it was nice and dry.

We are now parked in the Wall Mart parking lot in Winnemucca and will leave here tomorrow on the next leg of our adventure. Hopefully we get as far as Klamath Falls Oregon tomorrow.

More later.

06-06-10

Well, we made it to Ely Nevada, it took us 7 hours and I'm pooped.
We are staying at the Prospector Hotel, Gambling Hall and RV park.
Full hookups for $16/ night.
The restaurant is pretty good and Patti gets to kill some time playing the slots.

As our GPS says we are "re-calculating".

Instead of going to Winnemucca via Austin as we had planned we have decided to follow 93 north from Ely to Wells NV, then go west on I-80 to Winnemucca.
It is about the same distance but there are less high passes to go over.

More tomorrow.

06-05-10

We are leaving Moab in the morning.
From here we will try to make it to Ely, Nevada.
If not, we will go as far as we can.
We have 6 days to get to Brookings so we aren't in a big hurry.
From Ely we will follow US-50 to Austin and then north on Nevada 305 to battle Mountain, then west on I-80 to Winnemucca.
From Winnemucca we will go north on US-95 to 140 and follow it to where it connects to I-5 then north to Grants Pass Oregon.
There we will get on 199, follow it to 101 then go north.
There is a short cut that goes from 199 to just south of Brookings and if I dont miss it we will go that way.
If we get to Brookings early we will go on up to Gold Beach and out along the Rogue River to a campground that we like there and stay until June eleventh, then we will go back to Brookings and "At Rivers Edge RV Resort" on the Chetco River.

Okay, that is our itinerary.

I will try to blog along the way.

06-04-10

I haven't posted anything lately because Patti and I have been down with colds and haven't done anything for the last several days except sneeze and cough.
We are leaving Moab on Sunday and will be making our way toward Brookings Oregon.
We have reservations at "At Rivers Edge RV Resort" starting on the 11th of June. That gives us plenty of time to get there.

I will keep you up to date as we travel along if I have an Internet connection.

06-01-10

Yesterday Clyde came by to see if we wanted to go for a ride but Patti was planning to do laundry so we declined.
The laundromat was closed for Memorial Day so when she got back home we decided to take a ride after all. I didn't feel like doing anything to challenging so we decided to try the La Sal Mountain Loop Road.
It is a paved road that goes up into the mountains and comes out on 128 along the Colorado River. Along the way we came across a dirt road that goes to Geyser Pass so we turned onto it and drove until we came to where it ended at major snow drifts.



It was nice to be in the mountains with the trees,

the snow



and clear mountain streams.

We returned to the paved road and continued along it.

From the road we could see Ken's lake and the Moab Rim.



We came to another dirt road that went to "OOWAH Lake". Of course we had to check it
out. It turned out to be a small lake with a campground that is apparently very popular with the locals.



There were several people fishing in the lake but we only saw one fish caught while we were there.



We drove back to the pavement and went on. Along the road we could see Castle Valley below us.



We came to a "T", turned left and drove through Castle Valley.



A few miles past Castle Valley we came to 128 and turned left along the Colorado River. We passed a campground where there was a natural cactus garden along the highway.



A little farther along we stopped to get some pictures of people kayaking the river.

The rapids here are not as fast as they are further up stream.

We left Moab around noon and were home by 4:30

Today we are going to the Wall Mart in Grand Junction Colorado, to get our prescriptions filled.
It is a two hour drive each way on I-70 so it's going to be a long day