August 9-12: Lincoln City Elks

August 12, 2012

Lincoln City Elks Park, Lincoln City, Oregon

As always, please click on any picture below for a larger version...

Well, the adventure continues!  We left Seaside and successfully made our way to Lincoln City, about 90 miles south on US-101.  Since we only had a short distance to go, we didn’t get a quick morning start.  This was compounded by the fact that the Rover needed a jump start before we could hook up; another thing that needs watching.

We were soon finding our way to the RV Park of the Lincoln City Elks Lodge.  Their setup is different than most, as the Lodge itself is “in town” and the RV Park is a separate facility about 5 miles away.  It’s a nice and quiet place (except for the loud rednecks in the evenings), and we enjoyed a four-night stay.

Friday, we headed to local laundromat to wash some of the rugs.  This worked out well until the Rover wouldn’t start again.  We carry one of those portable jump start devices, so we were able to get going again, but the search for a replacement battery started right away.  We stopped at the local Sears outlet (a small-town mini-Sears) and I picked up a portable battery charger, which we should have on board anyway.

A little date math told me that this battery had about 35+ months on it, since the same thing happened to us in the fall of 2009.  I remember having to drive from Port Townsend, WA down to Tacoma to the Land Rover dealer because this particular battery is hard to find.  Hmmm...

The battery is an Interstate, a relatively common brand.  In fact, I saw an Interstate sign at a local tire shop on the 101, so I headed there.  Nope, don’t have one, or even one that’s equivalent.  “Have you tried the car audio shop down the highway”?  Uh, no, but I will.  as for when this battery can be shipped in, apparently “the truck” only comes in every other week.  Well, that’s inconvenient.

So, off to the Internet I go.  The Interstate web site is reasonably good, with a cascading widget asking year, make, and model of the car to give you the right battery (right, series 93, just what I have).  Click on “find a dealer”, enter my location and get a nice list sorted by distance.  Woo-hoo!  Start calling and find a string of “No, we don’t carry that series”.  That’s when I realize that “find a dealer” isn’t the same (to Interstate’s web designers, anyway) as “find this battery”.

Going old school, I call the Interstate toll free number.  After a couple of transfers, I’m connected with a guy who understands what I’m after.  “Oh, I can look up which location has that battery in stock”.  Well, alrighty then.  I send myself an email with the address (who carries pencils and paper these days?), call the guy and make arrangements to be there in an hour.  Works perfectly.  Note to self: it helps to know when it’s time to break down and actually call someone.

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So, with all known technical issues covered, it was time to relax.  And we did.  We slept in.  We made the trek inland to Corvallis to the nearest Petco since we needed kibble for the pups.  We stopped at Market of Choice while we were there, a local Oregon alternative to Whole Foods Market.  Mmmm.

We also stopped at the Elks Lodge in town, and found out that Friday was “Burger Night” at the RV Park, and Sunday was their annual picnic, also at the Park.  We decided to do both; it’s always interesting to meet some of the “locals”.

Saturday, we packed up the pups in the Rover and headed out for some sightseeing.  Backtracking north on US-101, we took the “Three Capes Scenic Route” and made several stops.  We took the pups on the beach (they love that) and had a chance to get a few pictures.  Depending on where we were, the weather was alternately sunny-cool-windy or foggy-cool-windy.  It didn’t matter, as we had a nice day and nothing went wrong.

When we got back to Lincoln City, we dropped the pups back home and then headed out for dinner at a local restaurant.  Since we were once again having connectivity issues, we had to find a place to eat the old fashioned way: who has the most cars in the lot?  We found Kyllo's and had a nice dinner.  It's right near the "World's Shortest River", so we had to get that photo.

On the way home, we stopped for some more pictures at Siletz Bay.  I'd brought my iPad, so I took a few "processed" shots with one of the downloaded apps; Geri took over with the Nikon gear.  We watched a family with dogs and kids all playing in the water and wondered how they handle the cold?

Sunday was relaxing.  I did a little computer work sorting various pictures, we got burgers and brats at the Elks Picnic, and we had an early night after preparing for travel.  It was a nice stop, and we’ll stay here again.

One footnote to this travel segment: just south of Tillamook on the US-101, we passed through the little burg of Hebo, location of the “Dreaded Hebo Incident” in the fall of 2009.  That’s when the base plate for the tow bar came loose from the front of the Rover and the car free-wheeled into a hedge.  Well, we’re happy to say that we transited Hebo without incident this time and, in fact, the hedge has recovered well in the intervening three years.

Of course, with all the issues with the coach fan and Rover battery this past week after our last experience in 2009, we do have to ask ourselves if we should avoid this corner of Northwest Oregon in the future...