Washington

Drove into Washington a couple of days ago and camped for two nights at a place called Quineault Lake. It is near the coast, about half-way up through the state, in Olympic National Park.




The day after arriving, I drove along a river feeding Lake Quineault, and on into the rainforest. Along the way, I saw many, many roadside waterfalls. The river was quite beautiful, too. I took a 2.5 mile hike to Pony Bridge through the rainforest.

Left Lake Quineault and headed up to the north coast of Washington, at a place called Port Angleles. As I drove there, I came across a large lake called Lake Crescent. It was really cool.

I arrived in a nice RV campsite at the junction of Hwy 101 and 112. The next day, I went for a drive up to Hurricane Ridge, which was a road winding up high through Olympic park. Here are some roadside pics:

I also went for a hike to Soleduc Falls, up along another road into the rainforest. It was a short, easy hike, again through lush rainforest, until I got to the falls. They were really nice:

Southern Oregon

Hi folks

Since my last post, I've traveled from Cave Junction, Oregon, back down into California to see the Lava Beds National Monument, back into Oregon to see Crater Lake, back to the Oregon coast staying in Coos Bay, and am now in Tillamook, Oregon, about 80 miles to the Washington border. Now for the details:

First, I traveled back into California a hundred miles or so from the coast to Lava Beds National Monument. They had about 2 dozen caves there (lava tubes, actually), formed when a massive volcano erupted many years ago. They actually let you borrow these big flashlights so you can go explore them on your own. On average, they are about 1500 ft long and around 40-50 ft. deep. I went into a few of them and let me tell you...they are scary! I was down there all alone in a VERY dark, cold, cave. There was even one cave I went into that was formed into a figure 8 deep into the bowels of the thing...they advised that you made note of where you entered the figure 8, so you could find your way out again! Needless to say, I only checked out a few of them and decided that I'd had enough. Pictures don't come out that great underground, so I've posted only a few here:




Stayin in Lava Beds two nights and then headed off to Crater Lake, Oregon. I drove all the way up to the Lake, having little fuel in the tank when I arrived. I was going to camp up there by the lake, but there was so much snow, the campground was closed! So, off I went in search of diesel. I made it just in the nick of time, fueled up, and found a campground about 20 miles from the Lake. The campground was very heavily wooded, with the Rogue River running about 20 ft. from my RV.

The next day, I went to see the Lake and surrounding area. This place was beautiful! Not only the lake, but the surrounding area as well. I even found an awesome waterfall, rivaling any in Hawaii. Here are the pics:

After Crater Lake, I travelled to the Oregon coast, to Coos Bay. I stayed in an RV park inside Sunset Bay State Park. The coast was georgeous! Some of the best scenery I've seen on the trip:

Tom becomes a father

After shooting these photos, I went to bed around midnight. Started hearing a weird, soft noise, like an “eep!” “eep!”. It would come and go, so I got dressed, got my flashlight and went outside to check. Couldn’t find anything. And, of course, the noise stopped once I got outside. Went back in, got undressed, then the noises started again! Couldn’t tell if was a bird, a child making noises, whether it was close or far away. So, got dressed again, got the flashlight, and started opening my underneath bins. I got to the heater section and lifted the hatch. There inside was a momma cat, who was in the process of giving birth. I couldn’t see the kittens that were just born, so I got some food for momma, but I scared her off with it. She jumped up into the bowels of the RV, through wiring, hoses, etc. As she did this, two little babies fell down to where she was sitting in the compartment. I got a towel and wrapped them up. They were crying for their momma, but she didn’t return. I waited about 45 minutes, but it was getting cold. So I took them into the RV and cupped them in my hands and breathed my hot breath on them. They were so cold. I called Greg, as it was only 9:45 pm his time to see what to do. The cell coverage was terrible, and I lost him. But he called back and told me to keep them warm and feed them 5% sugar water. So, I stayed up all night with these two little guys, feeding them about every 45 minutes. In the morning, I went to the rangers to have them call around to a shelter. I was getting nowhere, with all the shelters closed, answering machines, etc. Then, the ranger was on the phone with a girl at the vet, who suggested I find a cat that just had kittens and try to introduce them into the litter. I took the phone from the ranger and explained that these guys needed some food right now. She told me to come down to the vet if I would pay for their services. Of course, I agreed. I took them over to the vet, and the same girl told me that her boyfriend’s mom had a cat who just had two kittens. She took my guys over there, and momma cat started licking them right away. At lunchtime, she went back, and all 4 kittens were nursing!
I stayed another night at the campsite, and about 7pm, I heard the now familiar cry of a newborn kitty. I looked under the coach, and saw a different momma cat up in the front of the RV. I couldn’t see the baby. I went to the ranger station, and they told me that they had found a momma the day before with 4 babies, and had captured all of them, but momma ran in and snagged a baby and ran away. This was that cat underneath my RV. The ranges said that they’d go get a trap, and I waited about an hour for them to return. They came back and said they couldn’t find one. By this time, momma had taken off with the baby and I never saw her again.

In the morning, I left the campground for Silver and Gold falls, a 25 mile diversion. I drove to the falls, but the last 5 miles was a rough, gravel road. Just before I got to the parking lot, I took a corner too close and ruptured the right rear tire. I saw the falls, then drove back to Coos Bay to have the tire repaired. Turns out that the tire was OK, but the rim had to be replaced. They had one that fit (sort of), and I was on my way in about an hour and a half.

The drive north along the coast was very nice. One of the best sights was the Heceta Head lighthouse:

Don't forget to check out all of my photos at:

www.tomsphotosonline.com

In Oregon!

It's been awhile since my last post, so here's the latest.

After leaving Alameda, CA, I went to visit Mom in Walnut Creek, CA. Stayed there for a few days getting Beavis checked by a local vet to see how he was doing with his insulin. Then, left for Truckee, CA, to visit my sister Ginny, her husband Richard, and boys Bradley and Thomas (ages 11 and 9).

Luckily, I got snowed on Thursday night, May 26, as Truckee experienced a record cold night. A significant portion of my time in Truckee was spent helping my nephew Thomas "mod" his Xbox. Seems Thomas is really into a game called "Halo 2", so I spent, oh...about 12 hrs. gettting the box modified so that it would accept modifications to the various different levels of play. It was a struggle all the way, but I learned a lot about the game, programming, etc. By the end of it, I was a pro at getting things to work. Anyway, I did get some time to go to a local lake, Donner Lake, and get some pictures:




After my Truckee visit, I visited my friend Tom Weller and his wife, Karen, in Brentwood, CA, on my way back to the Bay Area. I had an appointment to take my RV in for service in San Leandro, CA, in the Bay Area, to figure out my "check engine" problem, that was continuing to plauge me. Dropped the RV off and told that it was an electronic control module feeding the lift pump, which had twice been replaced. Went back to Mom's in Walnut Creek to wait it out. Took some pictures of the local wildlife at Mom's - pretty impressive!





Went to pick up the RV on Wednesday, went back to Walnut Creek overnight, then left to trek north. Crossed the Golden Gate bridge...

Trekked northward, stopping at the Point Reyes Lighthouse. It was pretty cool, but you couldn't go up to the top.

Continued northward till I got to Bodega Bay, CA. Not much to see there, and I picked up a cold to boot. Stayed two nights, then again drove north, taking a detour to see the Point Arena Lighthouse...

Continued onward, Northward, and stayed in a campground in Meyers Flat, CA, about 50 miles south of Eureke, CA. Went for a drive on a 31 mile stretch of old highway they call Avenue of the Giants. It's a very pretty road parralleling Hwy 101 that has huge redwood trees and tremendous overgrowth everywhere you look. Stopped and took a short hike through one of the redwook groves. What a beautiful, quiet walk it was. These redwoods are literally 200 feet tall (that's tall!). Here are some photos:

After staying two nights in Meyers Flat, proceeded northward again, through Eureka, Cresent City, CA, and into Oregon. This drive was really nice. The weather was cool and rainy, just what you might expect in Northern California/Oregon. Can't begin to tell you how beautiful certain sections of this drive was. From Cresent City, I took Hwy 199 to the Oregon border. This was one of the prettiest stretches of driving yet on my trip. Saw my first elk (she had a little baby, but I couldn't get it in the picture).

Well, that's all for now. I'm still quite ill, hoping to make it to a National Cave near the campsite tomorrow. Then I'm off to Lassen State Park, aka Lava Beds National Monument, back in Northern California.