Mittry Lake

 

We moved today from Sidewinder road to an area called Mittry lake. There will be a number of “boomers” here for New Years and will give us a chance to catch up with some old friends.

Our location is (N32.81573 W114.47434). If you type those co-ordinates into google it will show you our location. On google maps satellite view they actually have a motorhome sitting where we are sitting now…..you can pan the camera around and see the area.

Here is a link to the fish and wildlife site for Mittry

http://www.azgfd.gov/outdoor_recreation/wildlife_area_mittry_lake.shtml

Here are a few pictures I took after we got here. The first two are our view out our back window. We can sit on the edge of the hill and look out onto the lake. Way off in the distance, probably several miles are a bunch of RV’s sitting in what we believe is called “senator’s wash”

Hope that you had a very wonderful Christmas and the new year lives up to your hopes and dreams.

Our love to you, our dear friends.

Jim and Linda

Off of Sidewinder road

Hi

Merry Christmas to all of you

May God bless you and make you happy.

We are still out on Sidewinder road (N32.81536 W114.82092).

We go into Yuma more than we should (40 mile round trip), but we get bored, or need propane or gas for the generator, or some other excuse. It is about a 18 mile round trip to get water and I normally have to do that at least twice every two weeks. We go about every two weeks to dump our holding tanks which costs $15. Here a a few pictures of us and the Chapmans side by side and othrs about 50 yards away and still others about 1/2 mile away

As available moneys get to be less, we have been looking for work. Bobbie has been checking into doing gate keeping for oil rigs in the San Antonio, Texas area. She finally got us hooked up with the right person and we, us and the Chapmans, are waiting for info. packets to fill out applications. We will have to go to the police dept. to get fingerprinted and take a simple test and they will do a background check on us.

That was also done at Amazon, so will be no problem..

With gate keeping you keep track of all vehicles and people entering or leaving the oil rig area. It is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week job and you are on a job until the rig is finished. Sometimes they do move to another area, but you move with them.

They provide a 15kw generator, water and sewage disposal, and we would be paid $125 dollars a day...total (for both of us) One person normally works days and the other nights. We are hoping to head down into Texas sometime the end of January. I have a skin cancer on my nose and am waiting for an appointment to see a plastic surgeon for a consultation (Jan 10) and than an appointment to have it removed. After that we could move on.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and new year and the Good Lord brings you something good.

Love to all of you

Jim and Linda

todays sunset

here is a picture of todays sunset. Because we are in the dessert and can see a very, very long ways….this was our sunset today.

Now if you are in the midwest, I am sure you did not see this sunset…..maybe you saw a reflection of something off of the snow….sorry, just had to do that.

I have been pretty good lately.

love ya

Jim

tarantula and early moon

Yesterday we saw our first wildlife in the dessert…..a tarantula. Aparently a young one as it was not very fuzzy and only about 3 1/2 inches long.

This afternoon/evening about 5:20 we looked out and saw the moon rising. Pretty cool sight.

Jim C. made a prime rib dinner for today. A late birthday dinner. Jim always does a wonderful job charcoal grilling. He is very patient, and really enjoys doing it.

That’s it for today.

love to ya

Jim and Linda

An early Birthday/Christmas present

Over the last couple of years Linda and I have been talking about a computer device to carry in the truck.

Back a few years ago I made a stand for our 14 inch laptop that swiveled and tilted, but it interfered with the radio and AC controls, plus the dogs sitting area. So I removed it.

We talked about a small, 10 inch computer or a tablet but with our old air card that did not allow us access to the internet. When we got the new Verizon 4510L MIFI device we have a WiFi hot spot. So that opened doors to different things.

The other day we bought an ACER ICONIA TABLET MODEL A500 which works on wifi. Both of us liked the idea of the “apps” that are available on the smart phones and tablets and that is why we went with the tablet vs the small computer.

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-A500-10S16u-10-1-Inch-Computer-Aluminum/dp/B004XZL980

So far we like it, and are going thru the learning curve.

So, happy birthday Linda (Dec. 24th) and merry Christmas to us

love to ya all

Jim and Linda

The Slabs

First I want to tell you that we purchased a new broadband device. Our previous one was an air card that plugged into the computer and we were only able to use the one computer. The other day we upgraded to a new 4G/3G MiFi device from Verizon, 4510L. It gives us a hot spot on which we can use up to 5 different devices(computer, smart phones, I-pads, etc). We will use it for both of our computers. When (or if) we are in an area that has 4G service we can connect at 4G speed, but for us most of the time it will be at 3G speed. It does not seem to slow down the speed when both computers are in use.

The SLABS

From the time we got on the road full time, we have heard about “the slabs”. Lots of different stories ranging from free RV camping to homeless people to society drop outs. Some who have been there said they would not stay there or go back because it was too dangerous.

A friend of ours, Marty, who stayed here at Sidewinder with the four of us over Thanksgiving has stayed at the SLABS several times and he left the other day to stay there again. So, Jim, Bobbie and us decided to take a day trip to see the slabs and drove over there yesterday. It is about a 200 mile round trip and Marty acted as our tour guide.

The first thing you see is Salvation Mountain, which was created by one man over many years and some 10000 gallons of paint, plus straw and earth which make adobe.

This is the link to Picasa. Check out the rest of the pictures there.

http://picasaweb.google.com/111116542009334943953?gsessionid=-GICk6l16jldkelRUxZLLwi

 

 

It was an interesting visit and we saw some strange looking people; kids with dreadlocks and wearing dirty clothes, to a woman riding nude on the back of a motorcycle, to high end motorhomes. The slabs is divided up into different areas and also has a church, nightclub

a pirate radio station, an old clothing exchange, which is a pile of clothes up on one of the slabs.

Here is another link. If you want to look up “the slabs” you will find lots of stuff.

http://www.ohmidog.com/2010/11/28/life-among-the-slabs/

I will try and go back and update you from Florence, Oregon to Sidewinder road……soon

see ya

love ya

Jim and Linda

Florence, Oregon

A couple of days ago we moved from Lincoln City to Florence……all of 72 miles, but it took almost 2 hours because of all of the bends in the road.

We are at an Elks club campground, which is all paved, but only $15 a night. Very active club with lots of stuff going on. Also a casino about a 1 1/2 miles away, which Jim and I went to yesterday. I actually won $40…..

Sunday we took a little drive north to see the sights we missed driving down……it was rainy and foggy, but we enjoyed it and took some pictures in the rain and fog……a different view of the ocean.

The Oregon coast is very spectacular, and much different from an ocean coast anywhere else in the USA, but…..the weather normally sucks this time of year and there is lots of rain and fog. Here are a few pix of the overcast day.

I know, more ocean pictures. But  we just want you to see the beauty of the coast.

Monday we did almost the same drive but it was sunny out. We went to Heceta Head lighthouse. It is another neat place that I will post a few pictures of .

Here are a few pictures of the light itself. It is what they call a freznel lens…but not sure of the spelling. It was invented by some Frenchmen in the 1800’s and magnified the light so it shone much further out to sea. It is very thick glass with lots of priszms(sp) and is made up of about 350 pieces.

currently it is an electric light, but originally it was oil, and had to be wiped down every day to get the soot off.

these last two are part of the original mechanism that made the light go around….now it is driven by an electric motor

If you want to see more pictures go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/111116542009334943953?gsessionid=-GICk6l16jldkelRUxZLLwi

Hopefully we will move on tomorrow to Coos Bay and stay at a casino for two nights….

As usual, you can click on any picture to enlarge it.

Hope you are enjoying the trip as much as we are.

Hey…..you do know that we love you…..right!!!

Jim and Linda

Coyote rock rv park

Today we moved about a mile south the a different rv park.

We were staying at an Elks campground south of Lincoln City, we we by ourselves most of the time and while it was a nice setting we wanted to move on.

We moved about a mile south to the Siletz river and our campsite is right on the river. Much prettier views. When we pulled in the owner came in to get his camera as some fishermen just came in.

Here is the address in case you want to look it up.

1676 Silety Hwy Lincoln city, Or

www.coyote-rock.com

here is our campsite and a few pictures of the fishermen out for salmon.

this guy just came in notice the fish on the dockthis is a harbor seal, sorry its kind of blurrrrrrrrry

We only paid for one night as we were not sure how good the cell and internet service would be as we are back a couple of miles off the main road and are surrounded by hills. But everything is good including satellite signal. We will probably stay here a week.

Hope you are enjoying the trip

Love to ya

Jim and Linda

Yaquina Head light house

Yesterday we drove down to Newport, OR to see the two Yaquina head light houses. The original one was only in service for three years as the light was not far enough out in the bay and was rebuilt about a mile and a half north.The first one was built in 1873.

It has been restore by the local historical society and the Corp of Engineers. Very unusual as the light is built into the house for the light keeper and his family.

The new one has also been restored, but the house and all of the outbuildings have been destroyed. Spectacular view of the coast.

The circular stairway going up  104 steps.

 and downThe original light was oil and was very hard to keep clean because of all of the soot…this is the bridge on the south side of Newport and some pictures of the fishing fleet

and some crab pots

There are thousands of these pots in this area alone

Today we are moving about two miles south.

love to ya

Jim and Linda