We have been Florence, Oregon for almost a week. Florence is located on the coast of Oregon, it is beautiful here. The ocean is on one side and it is forest like on the other. We visited the Heceta Lighthouse, which began service in 1894. The 56 foot tall light lighthouse is rated as the brightest light of any of the lighthouses on the Oregon coast-its "first order" Fresnel lens is visible some 21 miles out to sea. The views from the lighthouse are amazing. Since it sits 205 feet above the sea on a jagged and rugged cliff line, its sightline is unobstructed. The guys spend a day fishing on Mercer lake, Mike caught 1 yellow perch, Jake caught a few and Bob enthusically hooked 21, which he made sure that Mike and Jake knew he was well ahead of them. We spent one day on the Ocean Dunes golf course, the golf course was built on sand dunes and yet there was forest all around us. We shopped and ate at great resturants. One not to miss if you are ever in Florence is the Waterfront Depot in Old Town. You need reservations so plan ahead. The Crab encrusted Halibut is fantastic and only $11.00.

On September 16, 2009, we left on our next adventure. We spent the first night with Jerry and Zola Hatch in Hansen, Idaho, they have a wonderful house on 5 acres where they watch all the critters eating their beautiful manicured garden. Then on to Pendleton, Oregon where we were planning to stay at "Walmart". But to our surprize it was the start of the Pendleton Rodeo and quess who was taking the entire parking lot, yep Cowboys and Cowgirls, so we meandered over to the Wildhorse Casino and stayed with the rest of the Cowpeople. On Friday we traveled to Tualatin, Oregon so we could meet up with Darla Lindsey and her partner Linda. They took us out to a wonderful Italian dinner. Saturday, Sept. 19th, we met up in Florence, Oregon with our traveling friends Lynn and Jake Whalen from Phoenix, Arizona. We will be here for a week or so waiting for Mary Olsen to call us to come to the Winery with news are ready to harvest. We are camped at the Elk's Camground in Florence across the street from the Pacific Ocean, It is beautiful here and the weather is too.

Mike and Jake worked on our coach. One of the cabinets over the passenger side door was falling off the wall, and we were having problems with the lights on the truck. It appears that all the repairs have been taken care of for now.

RV Fire

What a hectic 8 months we have been through. In August 2008, our 2004 American Tradition Motor Coach burned to the ground while in the shop for some repairs. Of course this happened just prior to us leaving for an extended trip. After working with many insurance companies and trying to categorize all our losses, we met up with our replacement Motor Coach in Mesa, Arizona on January 8, 2009. Luckily we had replacement insurance for the Motor Coach, so we did get a 2008, American Tradition. We did not get to choose the one we wanted as our insurance policy required that the insurance company pick out one that was comparable to the one we lost. Mike spent the winter fixing all the problems on the new coach. Now that we are home, the coach is in the shop getting the rest of the issues resolved. The joys of a new coach!

The one thing that we learned from this was how necessary it is to keep an inventory list of everything you have in your RV. Thanks to several friends who helped us compile our inventory. We are still remembering items we lost, several months after the list was turned in.