#59 – Coveys Great Adventure – August 2019 – Oregon and Washington

#59 – August 2019 – Oregon and Washington

As much as we liked hosting at Thompson’s Mills, we needed a break before our next assignment. Working four months in a row is….work. We made plans awhile ago to spend three weeks at the Evergreen Coho SKP Park in Chimacum, Washington, but we had get the air system worked on, again. Three companies had tried to fix the damage that the antelope caused in September, but none of them had succeeded. If anything, two of them made it worse. They were well intended, they just didn’t understand the complexity of the system and tried to treat it like a truck installation. The system’s manufacturer suggested we take it to Oregon Motor Coach Center in Coburg, a place we tried when we were chasing the slide leak a few years ago that Kayeanne ultimately fixed. $1,500 and five days later (waiting for parts over a weekend) that problem may finally be fixed.

Spending the weekend in Oregon Motor Coach Center’s parking lot didn’t have any appeal, but finding a camp site on short notice anywhere in Oregon during the summer is tough. All of the parks that take reservations are booked months in advance, and first-come-first-served sites are all taken by Thursday afternoon. I finally found a site at Archie Knowles Lane County Campground, about half way between Eugene and Florence. I figured there had to be a reason a site was available, but beggars, etc. The site was fine, the park was ok, but it is right next to a busy road, so traffic noise was a constant problem. I think we were the biggest coach they had ever seen there, but we made it in and out without incident after I trimmed some overhanging branches.

Chimacum, Washington is a pretty good haul from Coburg, so we decided to break it into two easy days. Woodland WA on the Columbia River was our destination the first night. Ripley desperately needed a bath, so we pulled into a truck wash just south of Portland and took our place in a long line of trucks and RVs waiting our turn. But, when I tried to start the engine to pull ahead nothing happened, it was completely dead. We’ve had no-start problems in the past. I tried all the usual remedies, checked all the likely components, but nothing seemed broken. Luckily we were in a big lot with plenty of room for others to get around us while we tried to figure it out. An hour or two later, one of the passing drivers suggested tapping on the starter with a hammer on the chance that the solenoid was stuck. WTH, I tried it and the engine started right up! Needless to say, we didn’t shut it off until we got into our campsite.

Barge traffic on the Columbia

We got the last river front site at Columbia Riverfront RV Park in Woodland. A little pricey, but the view of the river through the windshield was worth it. It reminded us of Intracoastal Park near Lake Charles, Louisiana where we watched the tugs and barges day and night right on our doorstep (see blog post #43). Our site was a long pull-through, so we didn’t even have to unhook the car! Happy hour came early that day.

Chimacum is a small town a few miles south of Port Townsend, which is one of our favorite places in the country. Evergreen Coho SKP Park is an Escapees 

co-op organized like our park in Benson. We have stayed there a couple of times and have been looking forward to returning. We were fortunate to get one of the few full hookup sites for three weeks.

Port Townsend is not only a great place to visit, it is also a ferry terminus to Whidbey Island. Anacortes on the north end of Whidbey Island is the main ferry terminal for the San Juan Islands, so it is fairly easy to take a ferry from Port Townsend to Coupeville, drive to Anacortes and get the ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.

Yikes! She's 29!

Unfortunately, the car spaces to Friday Harbor are booked months in advance, making it impossible for both of us to visit our friends Roger and Michelle Shober. There are no reservations required for walk-on passengers, so the dogs and I dropped Kayeanne off at the ferry in Anacortes and were on our own for three days. The following week she spent three nights in Port Townsend visiting with her friends Katy and Midge from the beach house days. Then, we drove her to the airport in Seattle so she could go to Salt Lake City to visit with Liesa. The dogs and I were all glad when she finally came home for good. We were getting tired of our own company.

Great BBQ pork and beef tacos

PT is a good place to eat. We found good sushi, a very good Mexican food truck on Discovery Road near the junction of Sheridan Street that served outstanding pork adobada tacos, and a pub called Sirens on the waterfront that served outstanding food overlooking the harbor.

Three weeks passed quickly and it was time to head south. We wanted to see the west side of the Olympic Peninsula and we lucked into an opening for Labor Day weekend at American Sunset RV Park is Westport, WA. Our plan was to follow Rt 101 along the coast, expecting spectacular views. I should have zoomed in a little more, because 101 just parallels the coast, it never touches it. Instead of sweeping ocean vistas and windswept headlands we got a long green corridor through endless pine forests, sharing the road with dozens of logging trucks. Needless to say, we arrived at Westport a couple of hours earlier than we planned.

Looking down main street in Westport

Westport is an interesting combination of commercial fishing harbor, party fishing boat center and tourist destination. Mix in a few condos and the one main street filled with shops full of “stuff” and you get the idea. We are rarely disappointed with local museums, but this one was quite forgettable. We liked Westport for three nights, but aren't planning to return anytime soon.

Decent chowder and good fish 'n chips

Salmon fishing is a near-religious experience on the North Wet Coast. I forgot that the season kicked off on Labor Day this year, so the park was jammed with fisher folks and their boats in addition to their RVs, tents and families. Once again we were the biggest rig in the park. I am glad we arrived before the evening rush because as the park filled up, getting into most sites became a real test of pilotage and swing room. I’ll bet it took some folks 30 minutes of backing and filling to finally get settled in.

We pulled out of Westport on September first and headed south to Nehalem Bay State Park for our last camp hosting assignment of the season.

Books I enjoyed this month include John Sanford's Holy Ghost, and an old Tony Hillerman novel that I missed years ago, The First Eagle.

More soon,

Bob