This blog is to document my life and adventures living full time in a motorhome. Volunteerism has always been a big part of my life. Join me as I highlight my trips, adventures, work for California Department of Technology and enjoying life with dogs.
Before I talk about our adventures on our last full day here in Brookings, I just want to mention how wonderful it is to have a veterinarian like Town and Country Animal Clinic open 7 days a week here in Brookings. It's great to have a place like this to come to when your dog, like Remi drinks too much salt water and has a horrible bout of diarrhea. It turned out that Remi was fine, but having them here, open 7 days a week, really put my mind at ease.
Todays exploration in the Brookings area involved a trip back to California with just Remi and I in the Jeep to explore the Smith River and also checking out Crescent city a little bit. I saw the Smith river as we were traveling from Yreka on Thursday, but there was no place intended to pull a motorhome over and check out the river. However, there were plenty of places to go with the Jeep, so I knew if I had the opportunity, I needed to make time to check this out, and I am so glad I did. The drive along State Highway 199 was beautiful. There were 3 or 4 places to pull off and check out the grandeur of the Smith river.
The only disappointment was the level of the river. Even in talking to long time residents of the area, it is clear, once again, that Climate change is having an impact on our world. The most telling of these indicators was one place where we stopped that had a boat launch ramp. The highest point of the river on this day was more than 8 feet below the bottom edge of the boat ramp. It was so sad that unless you were launching a kayak or a rubber raft,
On our way back towards the coast from our last stop along the Smith River, we stopped at the Jedediah Smith State park. Once again, we were able to wander down to the Smith river and explore yet another beautiful view of the river. We also did a little hiking around the park and the lushness of the forest was just amazing! :-)
Once we got back to the coast, we went into the town of Crescent city and explored the waterfront a little bit including walking down a jetty and checking out a nearby light house. This is a wonderful little town and and it was also my last chance to enjoy yet another cup of tasty clam chowder! :-)
On this Saturday, Remi and I went to some beach areas north of the town of Brookings. we didn't really travel to any other towns... We only went about 7 miles north of the main part of Brookings. Of all the days so far, this was the most beautiful day, without a single cloud in the sky and we had a wonderful day exploring.
Remi's and my first stop today, was to go Lone Ranch Beach which was 5 or 6 miles north of Brookings. This is just one of many beaches that Remi and I visited on this trip, but each and every one of them have been well worth the time to visit. This location for Lone Ranch Beach was also a former location for a Borax facility many years ago.
Our next stop was Whaleshead beach which was just a mile or so north of Lone Ranch Beach. Though I've let Remi explore the surf while on leash, as well as a long line, it was this beach that I took her off leash to see how she would do. Unfortunately, she was so interested in the waves, and drinking Salt water, she failed at recall and I had to go run her down. Needless to say, she has a wonderful time at the beach.
On the way back to Brookings from Whaleshead beach, we stopped at House Rock lookout. There is a marker here also for the "Father of the Oregon State Park System". The sky was so clear and blue today. Every place we visited was truly special.
As we made our way back to Brookings, there are a number of places to pull out and check out the coast. I am so glad that I set aside three full days (not including travel days) to explore this area.
Our last stop of the day was to visit the Port of Brookings again. I really enjoy visiting Brookings, I could see this as a place to retire too, if only I had some family in this town it would be the perfect place to set down roots.
It was interesting to see that there were about 4 rigs at the RV park that had Trump for president flags flying from their flag pole. Now, I'm not any sort of fan of Donald Trump. And though I appreciate what Jimmy Carter tried to do as president, I thought he was a pretty poor president. But Donald J. Trump was the worst president in my lifetime. That being said, I feel it was really sad that people like this guy, will spend money on a Donald Trump flag, but have an American flag that is in tatters. Very disrespectful of our nation if you ask me.
Here is another little video of the days activities.
Remi and I started out our first full day on the Oregon coast in two different ways. I wanted to see the "Tree's of Mystery", and unfortunately, I didn't think a paid attraction was going to allow dogs. It had been years since I had been to the Trees of Mystery, which is actually located in the town of Klamath California which is about an hour south of Brookings. So, after breakfast and taking Remi for her obligatory walk, I gave her the chew toy she likes best and headed to Trees of Mystery. Any time you start to head south of Brookings on the 101, it doesn't take long before you head into groves of trees. It was absolutely beautiful!
The Trees of Mystery is an attraction that has been in Klamath Falls for decades. The likenesses of Paul Bunion and Babe the Big Blue Ox are on epic display outside in front of the Trees of Mystery.
It is wonderful to walk among the trees and see different fir trees of many different species. I enjoyed taking the stair case up to the Sky Trail which is a series of wooden walk ways going from tree to tree among the tree canopies. This was a truly unique experience.
In 2001, they added a sky tram which takes you up the mountain among the tree canopies to an observation deck that lets you look out on the mountains in one direction, and the pacific ocean in the other direction.
Another interesting part of the Trees of Mystery attraction is a number of wood carvings that were done with chain saws used by Lumber jacks.
On the way back from the Trees Of Mystery, I stopped to see the Chetco Museum. Unfortunately, it has been closed since the COVID 19 outbreak.
Once I returned to camp, I loaded Remi up in the car and we went to Clifford Kamph county beach. A fellow volunteer that I know from Rescue Ranch told me about this beach as a place that I could take Remi. This the second time on this trip that Remi made it to the beach. Though this picture doesn't show it, she did get a chance to play in the waves this day. You will see a video snippet of her playing in the surf in the video at the bottom of this post.
While out at the beach today, I also put the drone up in the air to take a picture of the beach and the surrounding area.
Towards the end of our adventures for today, I made another stop, this time on the north side of the Chetco river and put the drone up one more time to show the Chetko river below.
Here is a link to the video snippets from todays adventures. Enjoy!
This trip has been simply amazing so far, and I'm only 1 full day into it. I can't wait for the other sights to be seen the rest of this weekend.
So, for a while now I've been trying to get away to the Oregon coast. My sister Karen and Brother-in-law Mike have been to the Brookings a number of times over the years in their motorhome, and up until now I had never been able to make the trip. Finally, this year, after two false starts, I finally made it.
This was Remi's third or fourth RV trip, and with each trip, she does better than the time before. I still don't think she likes the idea of the walls sliding in when I close up the motorhome in order to hit the road, but she is getting use to it.
In order to get to Brookings from Yreka, you have to travel up I-5 to Grants Pass, then take the 199 south-west back down into California to Crescent City to hook up with the US-101. You then take the US-101 north into Oregon and the first major town is Brookings. The 199 can be a little steep and windy at times. It doesn't leave much room for error on large rigs like the Allegro Bus, but, everything went fine on the road this day. Half way down the 199, we stopped at a rest area for a quick potty break.
A fellow volunteer from Rescue Ranch had suggested that when I go to Brookings, I stay at an RV park called "AtRivers Edge". So, I booked myself a stay and made this trip. It's a very nice RV park which though it has been there for 60 years, is well maintained. The RV park is right on the edge of the Chetco river.
Once camp was all set up, I went on a quest to find Clam chowder in a bread bowl and found Catalyst Resturaunt here in Brookings. The chowder flavor was fine, but they made it a lot more cheesier than I like, but it was edible. I'm sure Remi would have been thrilled if I had let her eaten it. :-)
After dinner, Remi and I walked to around the warf area of Brookings and also visited the beach which was just adjacent to it. The warf is actually fed by the Chetco river and the Pacific ocean. So, in order to get to the warf, boats have to travel up the Chetco river Jetti from the ocean to get into the Warf.
The beach is very pretty. I don't think Remi had ever been to the beach before, but it didn't take very long before she decided that it definitely was something she wanted to explore more of.
Between the warf and the beach is an RV park that I didn't know about. The RV park sites had a view of the Pacific ocean and this was an absolute prime location. I will definitely stay here the next time I come up to the Brookings area.
Here is a little video of our adventures on Thursday as well.
I know it has been almost 4 months since my last post. That post was when I was on my way home from a 2 week trip with Karen and Mike to visit family in the Bay Area as well as southern California. Since my return, I've been really busy volunteering at Rescue Ranch here in Yreka. I've been helping out in just about any way possible at the ranch. I've tried to have my focus be doing videos to help dogs get adopted.
The biggest developments though for the ranch was the fact that a vacated horse ranch was given to the Ranch, and the Lava fire around Mt Shasta that resulted in over 140 dogs coming to the ranch while folks were evacuated.
We had a number of stray's that came to the Ranch as a result of being found out in the remnants of the Lava fire devastation. About 5 dogs came to us with burns and/or smoke inhalation. Three of the dogs required virtually "Round the clock" care from our staff and volunteers. But, the care they have received has really allowed them to thrive. All five dogs were evacuated from various illegal pot grows in the area burned over by the Lava fire. Three of the five dogs have been adopted, two of the dogs are still looking for homes. The five dogs are: Ash - Ash was found by a Cal Fire fire captain as the truck he was driving passed Ash as he crawled out from under the deceased body of his mother. He was treated for smoke inhalation and given Sub cutaneious fluids. Ash was adopted by another fire fighter in the area.
This is Lady... She was also found by a Cal Fire crew and was injured when a propane tank exploded from the heat of the fire, covered her with propane and later ignited. She has recovered well and was adopted by the fire fighter who found her.
This is Paws... He was found in a pot grow area with all four feet burned from walking on the hot burned out area. Paws has been treated and is ready to be adopted from Rescue Ranch in Yreka California.
Like Paws, Presley was also found with four badly burned paws after being found in a burned out Pot grow from the Lava fire. His paws are all healed and he is also available for adoption at Rescue Ranch.
Zelda was found by a Siskiyou county sheriff's deputy tied inside a grow house for pot in the Lava fire area. Zelda was treated for minor burns on her feet and adopted by the Deputy that found Zelda.
Rescue Ranch was very fortunate to received so much great assistance from local merchants from all over the state of California. Check out this this video recognizing their efforts.
Rescue Ranch staff and volunteers worked tirelessly to care for over 140 dogs that came into our care during the peak of the Lava fire. We were very fortunate to have a number of members of the community come and volunteer in order to augment our hand full of dedicated staff and volunteers. Here is another video that I created to recognize all the hard work that everyone does at the ranch, not only during the fire, but every day of the year.
As someone who has volunteered for the last 18 years at animal shelters doing Dog Rescue of one form or another, one of my favorite TV programs is "To the Rescue". A program that highlights various animal rescues throughout the USA. I reached out to them and told them about Lady's story, and they are actually going to come to Yreka and do a story on Lady and her adopter Ari! I'm so excited to have been able to help put Rescue Ranch on the map.
Ever since Carol announced she wanted a divorce, I have sort of wondered which way my life would go. What I am finding, is I am returning to a feeling that I had back when I volunteered for Blue Devils... What I am finding is a purpose, a purpose of service to others. Though I found helping Blue Devils rewarding, it wasn't as purposeful as doing dog rescue and even helping during disaster situations. Last summer, shortly after Carol left, I was asked to help out for 8 weeks at CAL OES. I found that experience extremely rewarding, educational and purposeful.
This summer I fortunate enough to help out for 10 days at the Animal Services Staging area. From here Animal control officers from all over the state came to help out and were dispatched to various burned out areas either to evacuate animals from the area if necessary, or if possible feed and care for the animals at their homes if their owners had been evacuated, but there was no immediate threat to the animals. I was called in by North Valley animal Disaster group of Butte County to help out. This was an amazingly rewarding experience. There were a lot of 14 hour days, just like when I worked at CAL OES the summer before, but just like at OES, I worked with some truly amazing people. Though I was there as a volunteer, I felt like my contribution, doing logistical work, was just as important as that of those who were going out in the field. I know my work wasn't as important as those going out in the the dangerous areas, but they all sure made me feel like I was an integral part of the mission.
Most recently, I've been helping out at the Rescue Ranch Sanctuary area. There is a concerted effort to turn former Horse paddocks into dog runs. We are repurposing materials from structures that are taken down and building dog kennel areas. This is very similar to a way that I use to help the Blue Devils back in the day when we would disassemble crates from Port Chicago naval weapons' station for materials to be used at the Blue Devil rehearsal field called MARS.
I feel like my legacy in life is helping others. Karen pointed that out to me early on in my life. She thought that I should become a paramedic or a firefighter. At the time I had other career goals in mind, but now, at the ripe old age of 59, I realize she was right. Though I may not be able to participate in the way I could have 30 years ago, I know I can still make a difference. And while I may never find love again, the way I did with Carol, I do realize that I have a purpose, and having that purpose will keep me going, at least as long as my body holds out.
