North Bend Oregon

We arrived at the Mill Casino RV park in North Bend Oregon a day earlier than the rest of the Montana crew because of the heat in south central Oregon (no air conditioner). This is the 3rd stage of a 4-stage Montana owners rally and finally it's nice and cool. Because we came in a day early we watched all the other Montanas arrive and set up. The park was an okay park near the bay but they had us strung out from one end to the other. We had 50 amp service so could run our AC except it was still broken and we decided it would be better to run our heaters.

This view from the top of the hill was the best we could do showing all the rigs but can only see about 2/3 of them here. The area in the dirt was all "free" dry camping for those too cheap to pay for hook-ups. A shuttle bus ran around and around all day and night to take you to the casino. When we went there we walked except for the night it was raining and we got a ride back home.

The park left one empty spot so we took it over and had evening snacks and libations. The wagon masters purchased dozens of oysters and cooked them over the grill as a special treat for those that like oysters. We did drive north to Florence and took over a restaurant for dinner one evening. Food was great and the prices were very good.

After being away from the beach for several months, CC never forgot how much she enjoys it. As soon as we cut her loose she was gone, running circles around and around us. It was fun to see her again out on the sand at the ocean. She is so fast that it's hard to get a good movement picture of her but this looked like a fun shot to post.

She would run and run, and then just stop and lay down trying to catch her breath. She would rest for a minute, jump up, lick the sand, and take off again.

We took a drive along some of the Oregon coast that we wanted to see again and got some more good pictures of another lighthouse on a sunny day. No wind on this day so the beach was pretty calm with just a few waves breaking near the rocks.

Just another shot looking due east out to Japan; it's just over the horizon a mile or so. Feel free to use it as a screen saver if you want. It looks good on our computer.

Six of us took a drive to Bandon and spent some time checking out the town, had a picnic lunch at a park and took a tour of Coquille River Lighthouse. We got to go to the top but it only had room for 5 at a time. The glass had all been removed and was replaced with weathered plastic so it was hard to see out of it. Would have loved to get some shots from up there but oh well.

A quick shot looking down the stairs and...

another picture of the two of us; thanks John for the shot. As you can tell by out jackets, it was a little cooler than the 100+ that we had been in for a few days.

Oh, we almost forgot, we took another beach walk that same day. This shows part of the stairs to get to the beach--lots of stairs but with lots of landings and benches. The tide was out so we had lots of beach to walk. Again CC loved to run in her circles.

After checking out the rocks where the sea lions are resting the ladies decided they were going to get wet feet getting back. CC would run about halfway across and a wave would wash over and back she would go. They all finally made it back with just a little wet feet.

As a parting shot we offer another beach picture of the three of us. Had to do some climbing to get up there but we made it up and down with no mishaps. (CC wasn't too sure about being up there, but she was a good sport, as usual.)

We are now at Canyonville Oregon on part 4 of a 4-part rally but more on that later.

To be continued...