Author Archives: Sparky
Tillamook crabs
I went crabbing yesterday on Netarts Bay with my brother-in-law Chris and my niece Kim. It was not my first time crabbing – Chris introduced me to the sport a few years back – but it was my most productive. We caught 9 good-sized Dungeness crabs. Chris cooked them and I now have two of … Continue reading
Tillamook cheese
I always marveled that my sister, who grew up in the heart of America’s Dairyland (Wisconsin, in case you didn’t know), managed to settle down in the one place in the United States that claims to produce better cheese: Tillamook, OR. There is no question that Tillamook cheese is good, but I will leave it … Continue reading
GTW Hop 30: Canyonville, OR, to Tillamook, OR
240 miles via I-5, OR 22 and US 101. Cumulative distance: 5,344 miles. The weather broke enough for us to make the long trek to the coast on Monday. It was a long trip – 5 hours total, with a lunch break – but with the exception of one brief downpour, was mostly done in … Continue reading
Canyonville, OR
Canyonville is a tiny town nestled in the rugged hills of southwest Oregon. But the city really doesn’t matter because we didn’t see it; we spent all three days resting in the embrace of the Seven Feathers RV Resort, arguably the best RV park we have visited on the GTW. As I mentioned, it all … Continue reading
Heavy weather
We are still hunkered down at the Seven Feathers casino and RV park in Canyonville, OR. The weather is awful here and worse along the coast. There were gusts of over 80mph all along the Oregon coast today, including one of 98mph at one location – that’s a category 2 hurricane. We felt gusts that … Continue reading
GTW Hop 29: Redding, CA, to Canyonville, OR
219 miles via I-5. Cumulative distance: 5,104 miles. Yes, folks, we have actually made it to Oregon, the last state that we will visit on the GTW. From here to the end it will be a trip down the coast to San Jose. I wish I could be confident that we will arrive safely, but … Continue reading
More spam
My anti-spam filter is clearly not working. I broke the 2,000 barrier – more than 2,000 spam messages received in the past 24 hours. This is just ridiculous. I am deleting all messages until I figure out how to deal with this. If you post a message and it doesn’t appear, that is the reason. … Continue reading
GTW Hop 28: Sacramento, CA, to Redding, CA
167 miles via CA 160, I-5 and CA 299. Cumulative distance: 4,885 miles All but a handful of these miles were on I-5. This was essentially a trip up California’s central valley on a drab, dreary day. I was impressed with how flat the valley is – it reminded me of Kansas. It is far … Continue reading
Sacramento, CA
I visited Sacramento several times on business in the mid-70s, which is nearly 40 years ago now. Not surprisingly, I hardly recognize the place. But I liked it then and I like it now. It is a clean, medium-sized state capital, similar to Madison, WI, my home town, but with a better climate. We stayed … Continue reading
Spam
The spam is becoming unbearable. There were over 1,100 spam comments waiting for me this morning. The first 15 minutes of every day are now devoted to deleting spam messages from the blog, which is most decidedly NOT a good way to start the day. I really don’t want to know where I can get … Continue reading