Our RV Adventures

My day started about 10:30 with hot coffee and some of Miss Terry’s warm lemon braid bread. A great start, let me tell you.

A little after noon, our daughter Brandi called to say hi. She had gotten off early and was on her way home to start the long holiday weekend. She said that our grandson Landon who just turned 9 months a week ago, is now wearing 18 month clothes because he’s so tall.

My grandson, the NBA star!

About 1 Jan and Terry headed into Coarsegold to the Peddler’s Fair and Flea Market at the Coarsegold Historic Village, after making a stop at the bank and the Radio Shack in Oakhurst.

While they were gone Nick and I got back to work on his tail light problem. Picking up where we left off yesterday, we found that the problem of intermittent lights from his coach was caused by a defective 3M Scotchlok inline splice that supplies 12 volts to the 5 wire to 4 wire converter box. The splice had come apart inside so that it looked OK, but caused the power to come and go. I replaced it with a new one and now we were good to go on the coach end.

To do a final test and check the brake light signal requires the coach to be running so the brake system is aired up and working. We decided to wait until tomorrow to do this and concentrate now on checking out the tow lights on his Explorer.

A little further inspection quickly found us two problems. A loose screw connection in the plug that connects the rig and the toad, and a bad crimp splice inside the left tail light housing.

Both of these were quickly repaired, but before we could do anything further, we found the battery had died in the Explorer, and since Jan and Terry were off in our truck, we had to wait until they got back to jump it.

Nick has had a running problem with this battery, and he says he’s ready to just buy a new one, so we’ll do that tomorrow at the NAPA Auto Parks in Coarsegold.

By this time Jan and Terry were back and everyone was hungry, so about 4:30 we all headed into Oakhurst, and, after a lot of discussion, ended up at the Sweetwater Steakhouse.

We had passed by this place a number of times and it was always busy. And now we know why.

Jan and Terry had Flat Iron steaks and Nick and I had our usual Ribeyes. And we all agreed they were great. I know mine was the best steak I’ve had in a long time. The place is not cheap, but it’s highly recommended.

And what would a great meal be, without a good cappuccino to top it off. So we did that too.

I’ve reposted some more of our travels up the Oregon and Washington coast last year.

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Thought for the Day:

Being a terrorist these days is like being a Chinook salmon. Your longevity depends on keeping away from Seals.

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Pig N Pancake…

Originally posted on May 19, 2010

We spent last night at Circle Creek RV Park just south of Seaside, OR.

It rained pretty much all day yesterday, but when we first got up this morning it was clear. But that didn’t last long.

Since we had a short 105 mile trip today, we decided to have breakfast in Seaside before we left, so about 9:15 am we headed over to the Pig N Pancake.

Jan had the Blueberry Pancakes with Bacon, and I had the Banana Pancakes with Orange/Pineapple sauce, and both were really good.

After breakfast we drove down to the end of Broadway on the beachfront. Seaside is a very popular tourist destination on the Oregon Coast and the town shows it.

Even the streetlights reflect the Seaside theme.

Seaside’s other claim to fame is that it was the end of the trail for Lewis and Clark in 1805. They stayed for almost a year before heading back east.

We left Circle Creek RV Park about 11:30 and headed north on US 101, and of course by then it was pouring down rain again.

But lucky for us it stopped right before we got to American Sunset RV Park in Westport, WA about 3 pm.

We were glad to find our good friends, Al and Adrianne Cox parked right across from us. We first met them two years ago in Fairbanks, AK and then got to see them again this past February in Tucson. They are workamping here this summer and it’ll be good to spend a few days with them.

They came over as soon as we got parked and we talked for about two hours. We also watched a crow trying to steal suet out of one of their bird feeders. Hey, crows gotta eat too.

They already had a park get-together scheduled for tonight so about 5:30 we went to down to the marina area to eat at The One-Eyed Crab, a recommended seafood place. Jan had the Wild Mexican Prawns and I had the Fish (Cod). The platters came with twice-baked potatoes which was also good.

After dinner we drove over to the seawall to watch the waves come over it. There is a storm off the coast which is causing all the rain and bringing a lot of really high winds with it. When I got out to take these pictures, I told Jan the winds were about 60-70 mph.

There was a TV camera crew there taping the storm, and when we watched them later on TV, they confirmed winds in excess of 60 mph. And on Mt Rainer, they recorded a wind gust of 118 mph.

By the time we got back to the park, the rain had slacked off and left us this.

But the wind hasn’t let up. I didn’t even try to put out the Satellite dish. It would have been hopeless. But the park cable works pretty good, so we have some TV.

More tomorrow…

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We were up early this morning (well, 9 am is early for me) because I was going to get to play choo choo.

Well, they probably won’t let me play with it, so I’ll just have to settle for riding on it.

We headed out with Nick and Terry about 10 am to ride the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad located about 25 miles north of the park, on the way to Yosemite National Park.

The YMSP railroad is laid out on some of the old routes of the Madera Sugar Pine Lumber Company that ran from 1899 to 1931. When the company closed down, they pulled up all the track and sold off the rolling stock.

But then in 1961 Rudy Stauffer started rebuilding the railroad, laying down some of the old track along a 4 mile loop following the old roadbed, to create an excursion railroad.

The reconstituted railroad began service with the purchase of a Shay locomotive from the West Side Lumber Company railway of Tuolumne, California. Built in 1928, No. 10 is recognized as the largest ‘narrow gauge’ Shay locomotive ever constructed.

Narrow gauge means that the tracks are closer together than on a standard gauge railroad, in this case 3 feet vs. 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches. Narrow gauge track was used in locations like this because it was cheaper to build where the clearances and the curves are tighter.

Shays were known for their pulling power and were used in many logging and mining situations. What gave them their strength was their unique way of getting power to the driving wheels.

Unlike conventional steam locomotives like this 4-8-4 below that uses side rods that only power the large center wheels,

the Shays have gears and drive shafts that power all 12 wheels giving superior traction and power

They also had on display this center cab yard switcher that I think is a GE 50 or 55 ton model from the late 1950’s, but I’m not sure. It is apparently not operational.

In the engine house I also found Shay No. 15, the second engine on the railroad, though it looks like it’s under repair.

The rolling stock consists of two types of cars, a covered coach,

and these open-air versions, made from very large logs.

About 11:15 the conductor called “All Aboard” and we headed out on our 1 hour trip.

Here’s Nick and Terry enjoying the fresh air.

At the half-way point the train stopped to take on water and give the passengers a chance to stretch their legs.

It also gave Nick and I a chance to check out the cab of the locomotive. That mess looks worse than working on Nick’s RV.

Here you can see the firebox that makes the 200 psi of superheated steam that powers No. 10. The locomotive originally burned wood, but was later converted to burn fuel oil, also known as bunker oil. However now, they burn used motor oil, which doesn’t give them as much power, but is much cheaper.

Finishing up our ride, we checked out the museum, bookstore and gift shop, along with their gold panning instruction and demonstration.

After a great day on the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad, we headed back into Oakhurst about 1:15 pm. We had a really good time and highly recommend this to anyone in the area.

In the summertime they even have a Moonlight Special on Wednesday and Saturday nights complete with a BBQ steak dinner, entertainment, and a moonlight train ride (well, if the moon is out, otherwise it’s just a train ride in the dark, which can be fun too.)

Heading back into Oakhurst we decided to have a late lunch at Todd’s Cookhouse BBQ, our favorite local BBQ joint. It seems like this place just gets better and better every time we go.

Coming back to the park, we stopped off at the PO for our mail and some stamps, and then the NAPA Auto Parts store in Coarsegold for diesel antifreeze for Nick’s rig.

Our final stop was of course, for cappuccinos. I think we’re all hooked now.

That’s about it for today. I had planned to work some more on Nick’s light problem when we got home but a nap got in the way. Sorry Nick.

There’s always tomorrow.

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Thought for the Day:

‘Remember, if you can’t fix it with a hammer, you’ve got an electrical problem.”

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