Monday, April 30, 2012

A week !!! Already 8)

Wow, a week has gone by already. Let's see, where to begin? I guess at the beginning of the week huh.

While it was a good week for me, my younger brother who already has major health issues was flown 150 miles to TMC 3 times. Finally they removed or repaired his Thyroid and he called me today saying he felt much better. So, for that I am thankful

My week was a lot more positive. I am visiting an ol friend from Haines Alaska and her family. Last Sunday her husband Jerry, his son Rick, and I went up to Marys Peak to hunt/hike.
I got out of the truck thinking that doesnt look to bad, probably flattens out around the corner.
Maybe the next corner

We filled our water bottles here. It was 2 miles til they decided to turn back and it never flattened out. That hike killed me but I kept up and did not stop. In fact when we turned around I walked an extra 5 feet just to say ,,,,, LOL

The view, and yes it was worth it.

I was hurting the next morning but it felt so good. A little Aleve and a flat walk the mile and a half to the store helped loosen the legs up. Seems I should be built like a Ewing now after all this hiking and climbing but I GAINED a few pounds. Go figure LOL

Did some routine chores through the week, cleaning, etc.
Friday I was whining about being bored and my friend Tracey mentioned they wanted to remove two walls to make the living room bigger.
A project, I jumped on it. I was so eager I forgot to take a before picture
I left to get some tools from the RV and the kids cleaned the mess up. Made me a happy camper. I then cleaned the lens on the camera. LOL
I told Tracey I would return in the morning and help Jerry on the rest of it.
A bite of dinner. A good nights sleep.
Hmmm, just like I left it yesterday 8)
Jerry did the corner by the front door, we removed the post and the boards on the cieling and floor and I relocated/rewired the three-way switch to the kitchen and a couple outlets. All in all a good day.
They're going to finish the walls when they finish relocating one more wall.
I saw it today and they had moved the dining table and stuff into that area and spread out the living room It looked much more spacious and nice.

When I got back to the RV yesterday I was taking a walk and saw some old cars and stuff accumulating at the Fair Grounds next door to where I am camping.
I went up to check the Marquee and saw that today was an "Antique Car Show and Swap Meet".
What a great after church activity

The event was nice, large, and the weather participated. However the prices were sometimes a tad high. And example is what you see. I only paid attention to the old panel wagon which is rough to say the least. No rear fenders, running gear, interior grill etc. Just what youd expect if you were out in a field and found an old rusty car in a ditch. And for only $2,000 it could be yours. LOL
In retrospect I should have bought this. Anyone that knows me knows that my favorite soda is Root Beer and my favorite Root Beer is Henry Weinhards. How cool to have this in the RV, but as they say you snooze you lose though they may still have it, though I have no idea how to find that out. Dang hindsight. LOL
There's a reason I go to these things with minimum cash. They had old Hot Wheels, Diecast, and just plain old toys. Priced accordingly of course LOL. These Winnabagos were triple digit prices.
Old oil cans, a tire repair kit from the days of vulcanizing the patches.
Even older 1 quart oil containers.  I think I actually like these even better than whats out there now. Recyclable with a nice metal funnel.
Even furniture. Wouldn't this look good in your living room? OK, how about the den or even the garage. Even comes with a flat tire LOL
Another shoulda thing. These would look good on my couch. AT least I wouldn't be traveling alone and my girls wouldn't worry as much. But then again, it is Homer. LOL
Imagine pulling up behind me on the highway and these guys sitting on a platform on the back of the RV waving at you.
$ 400 but what you see is what you get. There is nothing under the hood nor in the interior area.
Awww Go carts, I like go carts. A brief story about my youngest and her go cart. We lived at the Border Station in Haines Alaska and she was 13'ish. We got her a go cart and she drove it everywhere like a wild girl. The driveway came off of the highway with a verysteep slope about 30 feet high. She'd get the cart going full speed along the highway then launch it off that slope. I re-welded the front end back onto that thing at least 5 times. But she had a ball with it and when i sold it the word used was two words short. It was missing very, very, ,,,,,,
My first car was when I was 11 for my birthday. We lived 65 miles and across the state line from my school and so I had a special license to drive to school. It was a 1949 Ford but I couldn't find a representative car to take a picture of. Here is my 2nd car. Only mine was white, painted by me with a brush, roller, and latex paint.
Another brief story, my younger brother (the one mentioned above who is sick) played football and was not a small kid however he knew nothing about cars. I was a teen car nut and thus knew everything LOL. I had rebuilt the flathead V-8 in my pickup and he wanted to help so I let him install the head bolts. We couldn't afford a torqe wrench so I told him to tighten them snug the 1/2 turn so they would all be equal. After a while I overheard him say Dang, not again, so I walked over and asked him what was up. He said I dont know, I do as you said but when I go that extra 1/2 turn they keep breaking. he had snapped 6 head bolts off inside the block, and as a result keeping me busy for a long time fixing it. Of course I didnt let him re-install them afterwards. His idea of snug was a lot tighter than mine it seemed. LOL
When I went to Vietnam at the end of 1967 I had asked my parents if I sent money home would they buy me a car when I came back. When the time came I wanted a new 1969 Mercury Cougar. (I made 4153 a month including hazardous duty pay, but the car was only around $2,000 new then LOL)
Well, we were poor and they needed the money, so, make this car grey and you'd have the car waiting for me at home. At first I was disappointed, I mean c'mon, it had 4 doors. But it had a 4 on the tree which means a 4-speed on the column not the floor. It was fast and eventually I really liked it. I sold it when I left for Hawaii to a fellow Marine.
While in Hawaii I bought a T-bird that I fondly referred to as a Thunderchicken. I found it in a junk yard under a stack of three cars. I took it on base and found out a lot of Mustang parts fit so I repaired it. I painted it USMC Green as thats the only paint I could afford. After returning home I had it painted in Mexixo to a red simular to this one. Then I took it to Camp Pendleton after re-enlisting. The top comes off making it a roadster which was really nice along the Southern California Coast. I really liked that car.
When I retired and was selling things to get money for an RV and to get started I sold my Vette. This isn't it but it is a twin. Lots of fun drives in this little car, especially out the road.

Every old car show has to have an old military vehicle Its almost a requirement.
The Buick Fireball was a straight 8 which replaced the Straight 6 in 1931 and was a staple in the Buick Stable until the early 50's. This car was a racer but I couldn't find out anything else about it. Notice the hood ornament, and the straps holding the hood down.
A 1948 Jeep with a tad bit of modifications. and a nice bke on the front of the trailer.

There were a lot of used swap meet displays as well as Old Cars that I didnt put on here. The show and swap meet was fun and I enjoyed walking around wanting and yet coming home with all my moola.

11 days and I head North, lets see what I can do in those last days in Oregon.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

always look over the ledge, especially when there's a sign that says not to ,,,,

Well, I arose today trying to remember what day it was. LOL
Yesterday was a laundry, cleaning type of day with a really good cheese stuffed meatloaf for dinner. (Thanks Tracey and Jerry)
Tomorrow I am going with Jerry and his sons up on Marys Peak looking for deer and also to see where a road goes. It's behind a locked gate so a-walking-we-will-go.
That means today must be Saturday, cool, ok, now what.
Then I remembered that the other day I had gone to the Chamber of Commerce here in Philomath and gotten a bunch of tourista brochures, so I got them out and looked at them all.
There was one for Silver Falls State Park which sounded good. I like waterfalls and bridges so,,,,,, a-walking-we-will-go. Actaully they have biking trails so I hooked up the ol bike-a-roony and Jimmy and I headed Northeast.

10 miles East on 34, then 26 miles North on I-5, then 22 East, 214 more East and voila we were there.
On the way we traveled thrugh miles and miles, (or would that be acres and acres which went for miles and miles) of farmland. Other than a few of these pretty yellow fields they were grass seed fields. Was really neat, looked like a lot of unmowed yards. LOL But smelled really good.
Winter Falls at 134 ft. was waterfall # 1

I didnt realize it at first but the headwater up there was actually about 100 feet from where I parked. No wonder it was so close.

The route I had chosen to hike was a 500 foot decent in 2 1/2 miles. Since the whole route was 9 miles I decided to hike this 2 1/2 mile portion down then back up and then get the Jeep and drive to the other three and then hike in to see them. I couldn't bike, turns out the bike trails were paved and only around the rim. So, off to see the waterfalls.

I was sort of surprised how big the water fall looked and how small the stream that flowed from it was. Guess it had to do with the way it spread and flattened as it broke over that ledge. About 3/4 mile downstream was a bridge over the actual Silver River.
This is where the trail split one way to the right which went to North falls was closed (thus the decision to drive the 3 miles over there) and left which follows the river dowstream and some more waterfalls. remember we are dropping a total of 500 feet in this 2 1/2 miles so each waterfall though on the same river is downstream in flow as well as elevation.
Did you notice the cliffs around Winter Falls? It was a boxed in canyon. As you'll notice with the exception of Double Falls which is another tributary like Winter Falls this is a series of boxed in canyons each higher than the next if you were coming upstream.

This rivers about 30 feet wide and runs fast as you'll see.
About 1/2 mile down is the most impressive waterfall on this route.

This would be called the ollllll pooooooop moment.
(Notice there is no more water? Wanna guess why?)

Here's a partial view of the other side of the previous picture taken from downstream


Just to my right and down a little is one of those signs that says go no mo. Remember what the title is?

Now honestly, who wouldn't climb through that blockade for a shot here?

from behind the watefall. Still a ways down to the river though.

Still looking out from behind the waterfall

I was behind that. I walked all the way behind it to the other side but the trail ended.
Pretty impressive waterfall.

Next downstream was a rather small but still cool one called Drake.



Turn right here and go upstream to Double Falls which as I said is a tributary which enters the main river under this bridge. Notice the water stops again just ahead. Guess what that means, yep another waterfall.


Look up, the upper falls is smaller and to the right side of the top

There is that a bit better. Back down to the river and the last waterfall on this route.

This canyon is quite moist from the mist, and the river and a lot of vegetation grows here.
So, the 2 1/2 mile mark is here. I could go further but the trail winds around another 3 miles to South Falls which is back to the Jeep then drive a mile or so then a walk of only a mile, North Falls is the same only the other direction, duh lol. Its only a mile or so then 80 steps down to it. So I talked to my little friend

Oh, you thought I meant Jimmy, the Jimster, ol Jimbo. Nope he's back guarding the Jeep and probably eating all the lunch.
Time to do the 2 1/2 mile trek back oh yeah and the now 500 foot accent. LOL

Sadly, I stopped and took a video of the Middle North Falls on the way back but this syrupy slow connection wont let me upload it.
Getting back to the Jeep I was bushed, (thats tired in the Australian Outback LOL) so decided to head home and come back another day for the other waterfalls.

The farmland on the way back

It was a 75 degree, sunny day. A great hike and some amazing waterfalls. Most definitely worth both the drive and the effort.

Isnt it an amazing world that was created for us to enjoy?

Till next time.