May 23,2010

21 days on the road now. Made a short day of it today. Decided to camp at Prarie Elk campground in the Redwood National Park. When I was here before, the meadow was full of elk. That is not the case this year. The herd has split, and one part has gone north to Klamath. The balance of the herd is here, but with a high mortality rate, since they insist on grazing on the sides of the highway and getting killed. We saw 8 or 10 bulls on the entrance ramp to Highway 101. One was almost in the road. Later on we saw several cows but they were in a different location.

We did some hiking on the Skunk Cabbage Section of the Coastal Trail today. Were hoping to find Skunk Cabbages in bloom, but they had already set seed heads. Out here there blooms are on a stalk and are yellow as opposed to ours that bloom before the foliage emerges and is purple

Well sometimes the wrong thing is the wrong thing. Today, I thought I had switched the Frig over to propane. Instead, I left the frig on battery, and after setting up camp around 1:00 we left for exploring. When we got back I tried to turn a light on and found out the camper battery was totally dead. I tried hooking the electrical back up to the car and charging the battery. That has not worked, so tonite we will bundle up and be cold come morning. I will let you know tomorrow if we survive.

May 24, 2010

Yes, we did survive. Put on enough clothes and were warm while sleeping. Chilly getting up in the morning, but not as bad as we have had in years past.

We are now in Oregon. Frankly, I had gotten tired of California. Overpriced campgrounds, fees every time you went into a State Park and about a 10% sales tax. I know they have their financial problems but I got tired of paying for them.

It is refreshing to be in a new state. Oregon has no sales tax. You can use the State Parks without having to pay at the gate. You are not allowed to pump your own gas(how radical is that). We are in a commercial campground tonight near Coos Bay, Oregon. It is windy, cloudy and cool. We did make a few stops along the way here today. Lots of coastline scenery. Ate lunch at a Dairy Queen. Joyce and I shared a mini-Blizzard for desert. YUM YUM

After we set up camp we went to the Shores Acres Botanical Garden on Cape Arago. We were the only people there. Took our time looking at all the Rhododendrons in bloom. Use binoculars to view a noisy colony of Harbor Seals, then returned home for a late dinner of Hamburger Helper Lasagna(leftovers).