Brief trip north

[Tom]

We put our overseas visitors off at SFOThursday afternoon then finished loading the coach. Headed out Friday morning on a brief trip to Oregon and Washington. The first leg was 360 miles and we Spent the first couple of nights at Phoenix, OR. The Holiday RV Park there isn't much to write home about, although they have good ratings in the CG directories. The "stream fishing" is also non-existent; They told me the stream is polluted and I wish they'd change their ads to say that.

Yesterday was a day trip to Crater Lake. It hasn't changed much since we were there 18 or so years ago, but there were lots more tourists. Checked out a few campgrounds on the way - NF and state parks. We wouldn't fit in a NF CG but the SP we visited had sites up to 80 feet and the surroundings are much nicer than the private park we stayed at.

It was 104o yesterday. Hopefully it will cool down as we go further north.

We are now back on I-5 headed north on our way to Eugene/Coberg for a couple of nights. Our measuring appointment at Davis Cabinets is tomorrow morning. This leg is only 200 miles.

 

[Jim Dick]

Hi Tom,

We'll have to keep that SP in mind. I want to see Crater Lake someday. Unfortunately we've only been up that way when there's snow.

Wish I knew of some good restaurants to recommend but the one we knew, the Vault, has changed hands and isn't the same. Food isn't bad but the atmosphere isn't as nice as it used to be. It's in Harrisburg and used to be a bank, hence the name the Vault. You used to be able to eat in one of the vaults. Nice private area. The Vault is on the same street as the post office.

There is a decent restaurant for breakfast but I don't remember the name. It, too, is in Harrisburg on Rt. 99 on the right hand side. I believe the young lady in the office knows the name.

 

[Tom]

OK thanks Jim. I'm BBQ'ing tonight, but we'll check out the restaurants for other meals/days.

BTW the SP was called Joeseph Jackson SP. Recollections from our prior trip say that all the SPs in OR are quite nice.

 

[Jim Dick]

Tom,

From what little I've seen the State Parks in OR are nice.

BTW, the former Vault is now owned by a hunter. Quite a few mounted heads but not as many as the bar where you took us.

 

[Tom]

We're staying two nights at Premier RV Resorts in Coburg (the place Russ recommended). This is a nice park but, when we arrived, they'd given our reservation away and there was no room at the inn. They eventually gave us a small site (compared to all the others) and it's in the slow lane of the freeway. But we're glad they found us a site.

Took a ride over to the Monaco Coburg plant and the Harrisburg service center, just to check out where they are. Also drove to Davis Cabinets in Junction City, so we know where to go  in the morning.

Visited a couple of dealers and looked at new coaches. We really liked the 45 foot quad slide Essex by Newmar. Tomorrow we get to look at the Marathon Prevosts.

 

[Tom]

This morning we made our measuring appointment at Davis Cabinets in Junction City. Met with the owner Shaun Davis - what a neat guy to do business with. He also gave me an additional 30 minutes of his time telling me where to go fishing, techniques and fly patterns. Several other coaches were there, either for measurement or installation.

This afternoon we got to see some Marathon Prevosts and tour the Marathon plant in Coburg. I'm sold! Later we looked at several new Monaco and Holiday Rambler models at the Monaco factory.

Tomorrow we leave for Newport, on the OR coast.

 

[Ron]

Tom,

We thought you would be impressed with Shaun.  He is really good at his trade.  I know you will be pleased with his work.

Have a great time.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Ron. I've seen enough examples of Shaun's work to be confident he'll do a great job. I'll be posting before and after photos when he's done.

 

[Ron]

Tom,

We are liooking forward to your post on this project.

 

[Jim Dick]

Tom,

When you return for your cabinets you can always tour the Country Coach Prevost conversion factory. Then you can compare the two.

As Ron said, you won't be disappointed in Shaun's work. We sure aren't.

 

[Tom]

Hi Jim,

Where is the Country Coach Prevost factory? I'm not sure I could take another day of drooling though  ;D

 

[Tom]

I've been slow to update this discussion with the remainder of the trip.

Attached are a couple of photos from our prior day trip to Crater Lake.

After leaving Coburg, OR, our next stop was Pacific Shores Outdoors Resorts in Newport, OR. Marathon Coach owns some sites here and, while touring the Marathon plant in Coburg, we picked up a couple of half price coupons for this resort. The park is located on a bluff looking over the Pacific. 20 miles north is Depoe Bay, a small harbor with a very interesting entrance. They also have their share of tourist/t-shirt shops.

Next stop was the Astoria/Seaside KOA, near the mouth of the Columbia river. I'm not a big fan of KOAs, but the state park across the street was full, thanks to the opening of the "buoy 10" fishing season. Although this KOA has a number of paved sites, we had to settle for a couple of dirt sites.

 

[caltex]

Tom, nice looking lake.  Weren't there any fish in it?

 

[Tom]

On to the Columbia River RV Park at Portland, OR. A clean park under the flight path of a nearby military airport. The Portland Yacht Club is within walking distance, as is the Columbia river.

A visit to the Bonneville Dam hydroelectric project was well worth the trip. In addiiton to exhibits and videos, they have a fish ladder with observation windows where you can see salmon and various other species of fish making their way upriver.

A day trip along the Columbia river gorge revealed a number of waterfalls. For the hikers, there's a great trail that runs along the hillside with spectacular bridges over some of the falls. A 2-hour trip up and down the Columbia on a sternwheeler provided more spectacular views.

 

[Tom]

Weren't there any fish in it?

The photos are deceiving; That lake is a long way down and I'm not sure if fishing is allowed even if we could get down there.

 

[Tom]

Next stop - the Columbia Riverfront RV Park in Woodland, WA. This park lives up to its name in addition to being a nice park. Looking out the windshield of the coach we observed fishing boats and large ships travelling up and down the river.

We came up to WA in search of some stream fishing, but the Columbia is a little bigger than a stream. We were wishing we'd brought the bass boat along.

We took a drive up to the north fork of the Lewis River, approx 55 miles from the campground.  FWIW this is one way to Mount St. Helens. Wonderful scenery and some great trout fishing spots on the river and other streams. We passed several pictureque lakes on the way. We also checked out a couple of small private campgrounds, a National Forest CG and a power company CG, hoping to camp closer to fishing; They were either full or couldn't accomodate our coaches.

Next, back to Oregon. Yesterday we pulled into the Kah-Nee-Ta resort on the Warm Springs Reservation. Another nice, clean CG, but getting here was a bit of a white knuckle drive over narrow and very twisty mountain roads. The resort has a golf course and casino, although we don't play golf or gamble. The CG is in a small valley and there's no cell or GPRS service. so last night I put up the DW dish.

Yesterday afternoon I checked out the local fishing on the Upper Deschutes River. I bought a 1-week state fishing licence and a 1-day reservation fishing permit. Fished for an hour on the reservation side of the river late yesterday. This morning I left around 6.00am and headed to the state side of the river. It's a 15 mile drive from the CG. Had a great morning fishing and caught some nice rainbows. I use barbless hooks and practice catch-and-release, so no fish photos.

While looking for a place to buy a fishing licence yesterday, we stumbled upon a fly fishing shop called The Riffle Fly Shop, hidden from the highway near Warm Springs. The shop has a small campground that could easily accomodate our coaches. It's also a hop, skip and a jump from the river. I was very tempted, but our travelling companions don't fish.

 

[Ron from Big D]

On to the Columbia River RV Park at Portland, OR. A clean park under the flight path of a nearby military airport. The Portland Yacht Club is within walking distance, as is the Columbia river.

A visit to the Bonneville Dam hydroelectric project was well worth the trip. In addiiton to exhibits and videos, they have a fish ladder with observation windows where you can see salmon and various other species of fish making their way upriver.

A day trip along the Columbia river gorge revealed a number of waterfalls. For the hikers, there's a great trail that runs along the hillside with spectacular brides over some of the falls. A 2-hour trip up and down the Columbia on a sternwheeler provided more spectacular views.

Tom:

    Those falls are Multnomah Falls.  Sorry about that.

 

[Tom]

You may be right Ron and I might have got the photos mixed up. If I haven't mixed them up again, here's Wahkeena and Horsetail falls.

 

[Tom]

A few photos of Kah-Nee-Ta resort on the Warm Springs, OR reservation.

• RV area..
• Teepees for rent.
• Pool and spa area.
• Warm Springs river (no fishing, but rafts and kayaks OK).

 

[Tom]

We're slowly working our way back towards Junction City and Harrisburg. Today we pulled into the Crown Villa RV Resort in Bend, OR. This is definitely one of the nicest, cleanest RV parks I've stayed in, although it's a little pricey. Someone occupied our site the night before, and they asked us if we'd mind wating while they "cleaned the site".

Each of the large sites is comprised of cobble stones (aka small pavers) on which the RV stands, well-manicured grassy areas, and adjacent blacktop for toad parking. Lots of pine trees, so I would imagine that pine needles and sap might be an issue. Satellite is tough, but they have free cable and free WiFi.

This afternoon we checked out the nearby stretch of the Deschutes river and I'm ready to go fishing early in the morning.