30, HOME FREE AND UNEMPLOYED

[bobDog]

What's up bobdog? I'm actually in Eugene as we speak, I tried to stay at the primitive sites in Cottage Grove by the reservoir but they closed the gates on both the campgrounds so I'm staying at a park in Eugene, Armitage Park. It's kinda pricey and fancy but they have WiFi

Wow....just catching up on the updates. Hope you had a good time there. Only about 10 miles from me. You're hitting some great areas......to bad its been raining like crazy the past week after 110 days with no rain at all.
Keep eating salmon remember the NW has more microbrews then anywhere else.. Sorry I missed ya.

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk 2

 

[4whtundra]

After lunch BR and I headed back to the coast, we pulled off one of the many access roads to the dunes, this one was called Jetty dunes. After a $5 fee we realized other equipment was needed in order to comply with Oregon's OHV laws. Back in town we picked up OHV stickers, flags for our rigs and BR got a fire extinguisher (I already had one). Finally we got out to the dunes, I immediately got stuck, my E rated tires were aired up to around 65 psi. I aired down to 25 psi and noticed a huge difference right away. I was extremely impressed on how well my truck did being fully loaded with the camper, tools and all my gear. We rolled over the dunes onto the beach and blasted up and down the coastline.



There was trails between the open dunes that were flooded with water, we were skeptical to drive through them but they looked deeper than they were. Here's a short clip of me driving through one.

http://youtu.be/oAtGox5YYns

 

[4whtundra]

Jim, I replaced my headers about 8 months ago with JBA shortys and it still ticks. The stock manifolds were broken in two spots. It's possible I didn't torque them correctly when installing them, it's nearly impossible to get a torque wrench let alone any wrench on the tube style headers. I may stop at a muffler shop to get it inspected, I'll keep you posted.

 

[rangerdogg]

4whtundra, this thread is awesome I want to do this someday.I told my wife I want to be a minamilist sick of all ******** that we buy because its cheap and good deal like everyone else. I have been looking for a popup around north east its very hard to find one here.I want eighter a tacoma or a older tundra next with a popup. I might order a one so i can build my own .I bought a rtt this year and building a trailer to put it on.I want to go to colorado,oregon,california,and washigton someday.Keep it coming and happy and safe trails man.

 

[BertCaldwell]

Looks like a great time, thanks. If you're interested my wife and I went over the Olympic peninsula and as far south as Eureka during the spring of '11, You can check out the bloghttp://thefullmontero.wordpress.com. Unfortunately I haven't kept up on it since coming to UT( I claim I don't have the time but really I think I'm just too lazy) Again, thanks for this thread, It is a bit inspiring.

 

[banditotimoteo]

It was pretty cool hanging out in Oregon with you 4whtundra! I knew you'd love Oregon. I'm going to start planning my next adventure. Peace,
-"Brown Rice"

 

[washington taco]

Great trip! Keep posting and let us know your plans for WA.

 

[4whtundra]

I have surrendered and gotten mobile hotspot, no more pricey RV parks and McDonald parking lots! I will get the posts flowing after dinner.

 

[ADVrider76]

Awesome adventure 4whtundra. This is what we all should be able to do at some point in our lives. Subscribed...

 

[4whtundra]

We ended up staying at the dunes later than expected, on the way back to Mapleton we stopped, got gas, aired up our tires and BR made a trip to Safeway. I hung out in the parking lot and talked with a retired guy that was on a fishing trip, he spotted my camper and wanted to chat. He had a newer Chevy truck with an also newer Northstar popup. He talked my ear off and then we took off. The guys were asleep when we returned (around 8pm), we rolled into the "Man Cave" and gobbled down some of their home made chili looking stuff. The sun from the dunes and long day wiped us out so we crashed out early as well. In the morning we got up around 7:30, apple fritters and coffee as usual. The gang was anxious to get out fishing so we said our goodbyes and took off.


Bob, Me, Bobby, Perry, Babe (Babe is the one "posing")

BR and I took off out of Mapleton headed East bound on the 126 towards Eugene, our destination for the day was Bend. A shortcut to Bend is the McKenzie-Santium Pass byway (state road 242). We stopped at Alder Springs campground on the way for burgers and a quick IPA snack. A very nice rest from the road. A volcanic crater/rock formation was between the campground and Bend. We snapped a shot in front of (what we think) is two out of the three Sisters mountains.




In the late afternoon we arrived in Bend, we searched for a close-to-town campsite as we were planning on heading downtown to a brewery and wanted to take a cab back. The campgrounds are few and far between so we opted for a high class RV park, Crown Villa. We got the upgraded, usually $80/night site for $35. It felt pretty weird there. Our rigs were dirty and a bit rugged compared to the $100K+ outfits that were there. We fit in the same spot with plenty of room for maybe two more rigs. We got WiFi there so we dorked out for a bit and headed downtown to an Ale House.

 

[4whtundra]

Downtown Bend was neat, we stopped at Brother Jon's Alehouse for a beer and chicken tender treat. We both opted for Boneyard RPM IPA, if you have a chance to try it you won't be disappointed. You can tell the town is run nearly all by the tourism crowd, not much was going on but we stopped off at another club type bar called "Seven", we were older than everyone but enjoyed the cheaper than California drink prices so we stayed a bit. After a little bit we had enough and headed back, the cab driver was from Ojai, CA, reminding us how many people migrate from California to Oregon (I told a guy earlier in the week that I was impressed with his grocery store and he had moved from Ojai, CA to Oregon, crazy coincidence). Sleep, showers and breakfast for the morning.



After checking out of the park we went to the shopping plaza near the river to check out kayak rentals, we decided the scenery and price per person ($40) was not worth it. REI has a rad store there, I didn't go in it (because I know how dangerous that is) but they turned an old factory into the store. If nothing else it's a cool way to preserve some of the towns industrial history.



We decided to take our mountain bikes out that we brought along with us. BR was familiar with the area and showed me the ropes to a cool, switchback type trail that led to the river. We were surprised by a fellow that was in the middle of a National Fly Fishing Competition. He was nice enough to show us the array of hand-tied flies and how he set up his poles. We watched him and no more than 5 minutes he caught two fish, I wish I was that good! The remainder of the time we blasted the trails with our bikes.

 

[bobDog]

Glad you're enjoying Oregon ...... it's a fantastic place. You'll have to visit during summer.

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk 2

 

[4whtundra]

After our mountain bike adventures we headed South on 97 towards Crater Lake, we took the 422 West then the 62 North to Jackson F. Kimball State park just below Crater Lake. BR's trip was coming to an end, tonight would be his last night camping with me and back to work for him on Monday. When we got to the campsite we treked around gathering firewood, it was drizzling but we figured we could get a fire going. After 15-20 minutes of dealing with wet wood and damp paper we did what any boy scout would do and dumped a bunch of lighter fluid on everything, we had a nice fire up until the time to turn in. I made leftover salmon and grilled veggies.



Like any good bromance things must come to an end, I was sad but excited for a possible trip outside of the country with Brown Rice this spring. We said our goodbyes and both headed out, BR went south and I went north towards Crater Lake.



Staying North on the 62 brings you into Crater Lake National Park, after stopping at a couple lookout spots I could tell the weather was getting colder. $10 gets you into the park, there are no tours or boat rides this time of year, that was ok with me, no tourists! Driving up to the main lodge I came across an old long time friend, Old Man Winter! A dusting turned into a couple inches at the top, the snow made the water an even more brilliant deep blue color. An amazing site to say the least.

 

[ab1985]

Just keeps getting better.:ylsmoke:

 

[4whtundra]

After spending some time at Crater I took the park road to the 138, the road was covered with snow and slush. I saw a couple guys trying to get up on ADV motorcycles, it didn't look very fun. The destination for the day was Cottage Grove where there was a reasonably priced campground. Pine Meadows campground was a little off the 5, I drove out there and the place was closed, down the road a little ways was a more primitive campground but was closed as well. I don't really like staying in RV parks but sometimes you have to (unless you want to stay in walmart). At this point it was getting dark so I blasted up to Eugene and stayed at Armitage State Park north of Eugene. It was a nice spot but more catered to large pricey RVs, I liked the WiFi though. The following day was a little rainy, after breakfast I was on the road again traveling North. The destination of the day was Sweet Home, Oregon. After my Dad was in the Vietnam War he traveled out there to work with a logging outfit. I got a hold of one of the guys he use to work with and he said I could stop in to say hello. I traveled North on the 99 then took the 34 West and stopped to check out Corvallis. After fueling up and getting groceries I made my way over to Sweet Home. Route 20 East out of Corvallis takes you right into Sweet Home.



I pulled into his place and he was standing out front throwing a ball for his dog, he was a really nice guy. We bs'd for a while then we went for a ride down to check out the shop they used to work on all the logging equipment. Talk about a shop! It was the size of a small mall, with lifts, welders and other normal shop equipment. He runs the "shovel" for the logging outfit (the machine that loads the logs into the truck). Also on the side he's a sign maker and does metal working as well. He showed me a good amount of his signs and a couple of bull mount replicas he had hand cut, formed and welded out of steel, the details were amazing!



After the shop we rode out and applied decals to one of his sign/gates, there was a big skidder hanging out next to the gate. He asked what I was up to the next day and I said (like usual) that I didn't have a plan. He phoned up one of his logging truck drivers and asked if I could do a ride-a-long. So the next day I was to meet the driver and head to the log site to pick up a load and then down to the mill, I was excited and thankful to have the opportunity to see how the log business goes.