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By Katrina Kane, on July 7th, 2012 Needed a week out of Thousand Trails resorts so I chose Neskowin RV Resort since it is close to the Lincoln City area. The resort is right off Highway 101 though it could certainly use better signs out on the road. I would have passed it without my GPS to warn me. Getting in requires a code so you will need to call the office from the gate to get it. Pulling in, I was greeted by a nice fellow in the office. When I gave him my hang dog face about missing their breakfast that morning of biscuits and gravy, he immediately offered me the leftovers in a huge container and a just as huge bag of biscuits. Now that’s service! I then noticed there was going to be a potluck dinner that night in the clubhouse as well. Woohoo! My kinda campground.
I pulled into a nice grassy level pull-through space out in the wide open and setup with full hookups. Nice to have those again. Aiming my satellite dish was super easy with no trees in the way. With the main things taken care of and the dang cat happy again, I headed over to the indoor pool and hot tub. Very nice! The pool is heated and has lots of swim noodles floating about in it for guests to use. I discovered though that the secret to getting into a pool without shivering is to get thoroughly heated through in the hot tub first and then you can just jump right into the pool. The rain the rest of the week seemed to have no affect on pool attendance. People were swimming rain or shine.
The potluck dinner that night was excellent. Lots of great food and some I hadn’t tasted before. I took baked beans which disappeared fast. The park staff served up stew. In between yummy bites, I got to talk to others at the table.
Folks that go to this park are puzzle people. At any one time, there are at least 3 puzzles spread out on the tables in the clubhouse. If you don’t finish your puzzle in one sitting, it likely will be finished by others before you get back.
Expect to see lots of rabbits at this park. They come out in the evenings and are not at all afraid of people. Some will even pose for pictures.
Working from this park was not easy. Though Verizon does reach the park, the signal comes and goes. It is very weak even with my Wilson cradle amplifier. I had to buy tickets to use their WI-FI much of the week. At least they sell 24 hrs of access at a time for $2 and the system really does count the time you are on and give you 24 hrs of web surfing. However, the repeater #4 I was parked next to was not working. I could connect but it never brought up the login screen. I had to setup my router and antenna to connect to repeater #3 farther away in order to use my tickets.
Be careful driving on the gravel roads through the park. They are using very jagged rock on the dirt roads and at least one person blew a tire when a sharp rock punctured it.
By Katrina Kane, on July 4th, 2012 I crossed over into Oregon on my drive north and went to South Jetty, a Thousand Trails park for a couple weeks. The park is in the Oregon Sand Dunes Recreation Area and the dunes are right down the street from it. It is heavily wooded so finding a space where I could get satellite TV was not easy. The section to the right of the guard shack I don’t recommend for large rigs. It is very narrow with small spaces, steep hills, un-level sites, and way too many trees. I drove past the family lodge and pool to the D section. There is a clearing way in the back of D where satellite may get through but I chose a lovely large spot on the road to the adult lodge instead where I was able to get over the trees.
My cell phone was able to pull in the weak Verizon signal there most of the time. I did have to haul my laptop to the family lodge a couple times to work over their free and super-fast WI-FI a couple days. That was actually a pleasure to some degree because of the DSL like speed and because there was a group of line-dancers practicing in the lodge every day.
The pool and hot tub there are nice. The restrooms are clean. The chair swing on the veranda of the lodge overlooking the pool is a great place to hangout in the evening. They have had a lot of damage from a storm that passed through which toppled trees and damaged the family lodge roof. It also took out electricity in the B section which is now closed until it is repaired.
The laundry room is a good place to spend some time talking to other Thousand Trails members, doing a puzzle, or reading magazines. I got some good info on other parks there.
I went for a drive through the nearby dunes to watch the off-road vehicles climbing them and checkout the bay. This is a national recreation area so they do honor senior and handicapped passes. Be sure you stop to get a payment envelope if you don’t have a pass or the ranger will nail you. I considered going over the dunes to the beach but the walk was a bit much for me.
 
Later in the week, I went to the Sea Lion Cave nearby. They bill it as the world’s largest though I’m told there may be a larger one in New Zealand. Sea lions winter in the cave and hang out on the rocky ledges outside in the spring to mate. There was one male sea lion who had taken over a large rock in the middle of the cave with his harem of females. I was told he will not leave the rock for a long time because female sea lions are not particularly loyal when the male is not around. Hmm. Wink wink. Be prepared for the smell. Sea lions may look cute but boy do they stink, at least in caves.
  
From up above, you can see the lighthouse in the distance. That is Heceta Head Lighthouse which is one of the most photographed ones. Currently, it is undergoing renovation and hidden beneath tarps. To get to it, you have to drive to a parking lot below it on the beach and then hike a mile or two up a path.
Another day, I went down to Newport for shopping and just had to stop in Depoe Bay to see the world’s smallest harbor.
For more pics click here.
By Katrina Kane, on June 25th, 2012 The drive up from Morgan Hill along the coast was very long and twisty with constant ups and downs but lovely scenery. I was tempted to stop and play several times. Getting past San Francisco and Oakland was a royal pain with terrible traffic and drivers who refused to let me get over. God help you if you miss the right exit or turn. You also have to go over an expensive toll bridge which I resent. I would not care to go by there again.
I arrived very late at a Passport America park just past Willits, CA named Sleepy Hollow RV Park. Spaces are pull-thrus cut out across a hill and are level. There is nice little pond there with way too friendly ducks. They came right up to my door begging for bread. It was a good place to stop for the night. Not much around to do there.
The next morning, I hit the road again up to Klamath, CA to an RPI park named Klamath River RV Park. The location is rather nice right on the river and open grassy spaces. It’s rather popular with fishermen. The ocean is nearby. The steep hill with speed bumps down into it was a bit scary, especially since I was pretty low on gas when I got there. I wasn’t looking forward to going back up it. Be careful of all the extra charges there. They charge extra for WI-FI and second vehicles. There is also an extra resort fee you have to pay, supposedly to cover electricity costs, but their rules forbid using an electric heater in your rig. So you are paying for electricity you can’t use! This place was no bargain though I did enjoy my stay there anyway.
Nearby is a historical site where the old farm buildings still there were actually phony props that disguised radar, communications, and anti-aircraft guns during WWII. To any submarine passing by, it looked like a typical farm but up close you can see cement blocks in the window frames and dormers on the roof that go nowhere.
 
In the town of Klamath, you can drive through a large tree or go to the Trees of Mystery where Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe tower over the parking lot. Paul speaks to the tourists and waves. There is also a jet boat tour in the area and lots of other campgrounds.
Crescent City to the north boasts beaches, Wal-Mart, fast food joints, and other things associated with a larger city. Eureka to the south is similar.
For more pics click here.
By Katrina Kane, on June 16th, 2012 Been a very long time since I have been in San Francisco so a day trip up there was called for. I found a coupon book at the campground in their adult lodge so I took that with me. You can get one yourself at the Visitor’s Center down on pier 33 I think once in town. There are coupons for food, parking, etc. in it. Too bad there isn’t one for the toll bridges. Criminy! It may only be $5 for autos to go across but they want a whopping $14 for cars with trailers. It doesn’t make any sense. They charge by the axle so my trailer only adds two more axles, the same as a second car. 2 cars going across would be $10 but a car and trailer are $14! Geez! I actually only hit that when leaving the area to go north. My day in San Francisco I went up the 101 up the peninsula right into town.
It is just as busy and hilly as I remembered it. Traffic is terrible. I can’t imagine living there and driving a car around there full time. Many residents forgo the car and either ride the many public transportation options or use a share-a-car program when necessary. Some staunch troopers brave the hills with bikes.
I headed over to the bay side and found free parking in a handicapped spot at the Alcatraz tour pier. It was a little confusing because their metro dept. seems to feel the need to stamp their name on all special curbs so I wasn’t sure if I could park there at the handicapped parking sign or if it was reserved for some sort of handicapped bus. When I got back at the end of the day, their was no ticket on the windshield so I was happy. I saw other special curbs in town with the same stamp so I figured it would be okay.
No luck getting on the Alcatraz tour there. It was a special weekend with the 75 year anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge so they were booked solid. Did get my usual postcards and patch at the nice little café there. Pier 33 was a good bit of a walk so I grabbed a pedicab ride to get there. A pedicab is the poor man’s limo. Pier 33 is a great place to start with lots of interesting shopping, the aquarium, carousel, and food smells to die for. I had to go for the Killer Burger when the delicious smell drew me over to their restaurant. A coupon also provided me with free pizza sticks there. Now thoroughly fortified for the day, I popped over to one of the nearby ticket booths to grab a slow cruise around the San Francisco bay and Alcatraz island. There is a faster jet boat tour too. While a bit cold out, I found the picture taking better out on the bow of my cruise boat rather than inside so I braved the elements and hung onto the rails to walk about and try to get that perfect shot. As we cruised under the Golden Gate Bridge, a big wave came over and drenched both me and my camera. Oops! Undeterred, I cleaned up the camera and continued shooting so if you see spots or sections out of focus in my pictures, now you know why. The ship in some of them was the USS Iowa heading out of harbor and down the coast. I got some great shots of Alcatraz too as we circled around it. Not as good as actually getting on the island but maybe I’ll get back there some time and make advance reservations. Live and learn.
  
Next I headed over to Fisherman’s Wharf where the last running Liberty Ship, the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, permits tours. Along the way, street musicians played for tips and other performers painted themselves in various colors while pretending to be statues or robots grooving to boom boxes. On the wharf, I got to use a cutout to be Rosie the Riveter in a pic. There was a submarine tied up for tours but I skipped that one since I have toured several before and these tours do have a cost attached. My first and only Liberty Ship tour was pretty interesting. The thing is as ugly as they say. It is a cargo ship with guns mounted on it to protect itself somewhat. Liberty ships were built fast and only meant to haul cargo for 5 years or at least one successful crossing before being sunk by German U-boats that were targeting them. I got to see the engine room which is the actual one you see in the movie “Titanic”. The engine technology from the 1800s was out of date and slow at the time the Liberty ships were built but cheap and easy to learn. I learned how the funnels are mounted with gears to turn them into the wind for fresh air below decks, particularly in the hot engine room.
  
  
I didn’t get a trolley ride while I was there and there was still plenty more to see but just this much took up an entire day so plan for several days to tour the area if you go.
For more pics and the full tour of the bay and Liberty Ship, click here.
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