Camp Scamp

We decided to stop by and visit Shannon’s mom at Avalon Springs (formerly known as Howard Hot Springs) in Middletown CA. It was a sweet little jaunt West off of Route 5, taking us through golden rolling hills into the fabulous August sunset. We arrived just before dark and got a little help backing Scamp in from Elio Giusti, current owner of the historic hot springs.
The next morning we were the lucky recipients of a coffee delivery from Bhakti, then did some serious soaking in all four mineral baths. We had a little breakfast, then went to the Avalon garden to pick some fresh strawberries and other assorted tasty treats that Bhakti had grown. We finally hit the road for the very last leg of our journey feeling well-rested and energized.

We pulled over to take in the fabulous sun light!
Our spot for the night
Shannon and Bhakti at the garden

Heading back to Berkeley down 5 could have been a quick trip, except we had a few stops to make along the way. We were just 45 minutes south of Portland when we came upon the legendary Woodburn Company Stores. This place is full of every brand name outlet you could imagine, and so big that it had it’s own RV Campground, along with a separate parking lot just for RVs. We had to stop, it was made for us. Besides, I still needed to do my “back to school” wardrobe shopping.

Two hours later, we got back on the road with a long, hot haul to go. About half way to our destination, we stopped in a small town called Myrtle Creek to stretch, etc. This town was tiny, but it had two things that one would expect to see in Oregon; A Dairy Queen and an Elks Lodge. They were actually across the street from each other.

We had made reservations at a KOA in Gold Hill OR. As night was falling, I noticed that our running lights on the curbside of the trailer weren’t on. We pulled off at a rest stop and I tried to re-seat the bulb. That’s when I saw a spark and all of the trailer lights went out. It was just about dark and we were going to have to find some place closer to stop for the night. This is when our GPS POI destination locator paid off. Our digital Atlas suggested a couple camp grounds nearby. We explored the first one down a dark, pot-hole filled road, and discovered the gate closed. The sign said it was some sort of Rifle Club, so we high-tailed it out of there, jumped across the freeway and headed into Beaver Creek. We found the park, and there was one last site available, so we took it. Did I mention it was hot?? Probably the hottest night of our entire trip. As we pulled into our spot, we noticed a couple older men in the site next to us sitting at their picnic table… with their shirts off. It was THAT hot… and luckily pretty dark. After we were settled, I cracked open a PBR and Shannon poured a glass of wine, and we both sat out at our picnic table and watched as a short Airstream pulled in… and parked in an overflow spot across the way by the bathrooms. We were good for the night.

Another thing I love about Portland is that great things come in small clusters. Some places have food courts in malls, other places have tweeting taco trucks on the go, but Portland food carts take advantage of empty corner lots and the tendency for people to mozy and hang out on community picnic tables, eating a variety of delicious dishes.

In our short visit, we hit up two clusters; the first was a short walk from Shannon’s friends house. The address is North Station at N Killingsworth and Greeley. I couldn’t really make up my mind, so tried a couple different places including Starchy & Husk for some corn on the cob, and the nice guy at the Thai place (can’t remember the name.) The carts were as varied and adorable as one would expect, and the people were chill.

A view from the shade

A cart after my heart...

The morning we left, our friends recommended we grab a breakfast sandwich from their friends at The Big Egg. It was already hot out, and we were pretty hungry as we sadly pulled out of Amber and Kyla’s driveway. When we got to N Mississippi at Skidmore, it was blazing hot. We parked our rig easily on a nearby street, walked over and met the girls at The Big Egg. It looked really really hot inside their bright yellow trailer, and after we ordered, we waited in the shade. When my bacon & egg sandwich was ready, I knew after one bite why the Food Network Canada had picked them to feature on an upcoming episode. I can’t describe the joy I felt in my mouth that morning, but it was big. Shannon had some sort of burrito that made her pretty happy too.

On our way out, we were nosing around for some road snacks when we came upon Jimmy’s Nuts. We realized as quickly as we wanted the cinnamon-sugar coated almonds, we didn’t have a single dollar or even coins. He offered to trade me for my Wrigley Field cap, and I declined. Then we got to talking trailers, and he quickly warmed up to us and offered a free bag in exchange for us mentioning him on our blog. So, people, check out Jimmy and go nuts with his delicious products. We did, and we’d do it again!

Ordering our last breakfast in Portland.

Jimmy, what a nice guy!

One of my favorite things to do is see my friends in Portland. I get to play music with Kyla and Val, and we call ourselves Alive & Chicken. Heck we even recorded a handful of songs. If I can figure out how to post ’em on this blog I sure as heck will.

I also got to see the Deborah and do a little singing with her, meet all of Shannon’s friends, and we even had Amber’s famous Dutch Babys for breakfast. I know I took some photos of them before I ate them, but where did they go?

 

 

Anyway, here’s a few more photos of me doing what I love with some of the people I love, in a town I’m getting to love even more (especially in the summer.)

It was fun to see my old friend Sarah Landwehr and to meet her boyfriend Kevin and their new sweet baby Ameila. We used to romp around Santa Cruz together and it was great to reminisce about the old days. Sarah works at a great letter press shop called Lark. Every time I stopped by I bought something else.  We are returning home with two new pieces of Sarah’s art.

My childhood buddy Shyama is also up in Portland. She and her husband Sandy have a great home with two dogs and Utter (pronounced “Ooter”) the ancient kitty. He was a kitten when we lived together in Santa Cruz and is now a sweet old man cat. Lots of laughs catching up and reminiscing about the old days. Shyama is taking a break from work to do her art full-time. Check out her work.

This is how long we have been friends

I'm pretty sure that is a banana clip

Opinions vary about how safe a highway Oregon Route 20 is. I had been advised that it’s a “windy-ass road” and that it’s very dangerous, so I had prepared myself for treachery. Much to our surprise, the road was incredibly beautiful and relatively smooth.  We liked it so much we pulled over in a rest area to take in the beauty of the model-railroad / picture-perfect Evergreen trees.

For our last night on the Oregon Coast, we stayed in a campground that turned out to be a mile north of a small airport, and a short walk to the beach. When we arrived, we were told by our park ranger that the guy in our spot hadn’t left yet, and that she couldn’t get in touch with him. She offered us two other sites to check out, and we ended up across the street from the 5th wheel that occupied our reserved spot. As we drove into the campground, the road was smooth and paved and the sites were very close together. Kids were everywhere on bikes and running around in packs. When we finally backed in, we noticed our tent camping neighbors admiring our Scamp. They immediately told us they had just been talking about wanting to get a camper like ours. Shannon offered up a tour as soon as we got settled.

Getting settled was getting easier. We’ve worked out a routine and each take on small jobs. I usually level the Scamp, Shannon puts down the wheel chocks, then we tag team whatever needs doing in order to set up the table, fire, and chairs. We decided to hold off on starting the fire and dinner to take a quick walk to the beach.

Apparently the weather was typical; a gray, misty blanket of fog. We were the only ones at the beach, surrounded by chunks of driftwood and cool, fine-grain sand. It was broad and sweeping, and nice to take in the air. We headed back to camp to start on dinner, and that’s when our neighbors decided to visit and the party got started.

Shaun and Kandi, a married couple from Wenatchee,  Washington were impressed at Karen’s stir fry dinner and over the moon when she brought out the banjo. Kandi actually was wiping away tears and Shaun did a lot of hushing anyone speaking to make room for more banjo music. They promised us a box of Aplets & Cotlets in return, a signature candy from their home town.