Wanda the O.A.P.

Old Age Pensioner for those of you unfamiliar with the term. There we were, zipping along highway 101 in Oregon, when Wanda decided she didn't want to shift without a bit o'difficulty. Then, as we pulled into Lincoln City, Wanda decided she wasn't going to shift out of 3rd gear either. Alas and alack, we mulled it over, then called the Wizard, John to ask what the @#%$!!!
He pointed me to one of the problems, a broken shifter plastic thingie.

John also directed me to The Van Cafe's website, where he thought they may have the part. I called Peter at The Van Cafe, and he sent me the part, UPS to the campground. He also included some Famous Amos cookies, so he is even cooler.

The part went on without much fuss and my shifter was good to go. However, as John put it so succinctly, "sometimes one thing leads to another." And, Wanda still wouldn't shift out of third. I spent a few hours crawling under the van, looking at linkages and lots of dirt and grime and came to the understanding that this, like so many other things in life, was beyond my fixing.
So, we are off to Portland tomorrow, in 3rd gear only (if we make it), and will be seen on Sunday by Chuck at Chuck's Volks Werks. He has a car show on Saturday, so it is Sunday for us.

Other than that, the Oregon coast is green, wet and windy!

Peace my friends!

Something Tells Me. . .

We're not in Hawaii anymore! After 6 glorious months in paradise, we decided it wasn't really for us. We missed the people, climate, and trees of the Pacific Northwest too much! Soooooo, we packed it all back up, shipped Wanda to Oakland and flew in to pick her up and head north. This is Kirsty standing in front of the Founders Tree in Humboldt Redwood State Park (on the Avenue of the Giants in the Founders Grove).

The tree is so tall I couldn't get it all in the picture!

This old growth tree has seen many fires, but still lives on.

Redwoods are so tall that they live in three different climate zones, one at the base, one along the stem, and one at the top.

 This picture, and the next two, are of the "Dyerville Giant" redwood which fell in 1991. It was about 370' tall, 17' in diameter, 52' in circumference, and weighed over 1,000,000,000 pounds!

I mean...damn!

So nice to see the Oregon grasses again!

We are heading up to Bellingham after a bit of camping in Oregon. If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know we may or may not get there!

Peace my friends!

Cane Spider

About the size of a can of tuna fish. Yikes!

A Spider-Free Peace My friends!

Lava Tree State Park

We were camping in Puna again and went to see the Lava Tree State Park. A couple of hundred years ago, the lava was flowing heavy here and it rolled over the ohia trees. The lava would roll up and around some of the larger trees, then solidify in an upright tower before consuming the tree. What was left were called lava trees: hollowed out towers of lava.

 Inside view.

 The ferns are very cool here!

 This stalk is as big as my arm.

 Love the colors!

 Orchids abound as well.

Plants grow large here. This is a taro plant, used to make the traditional Hawaiian food, poi. Which, to be polite, is an acquired taste. Speaking of acquired tastes. . .

We went to Hawaiian Beaches to check out the coast while having a coffee and came upon a sight I just had to blog.

Hawaiian Beaches is a subdivision outside of Hilo and a few of the roads go right down to the water. A couple of houses had a lovely view of this at one time:

and then they had a view of this:

Words fail me here. . .

Peace my friends!

Volcano Holo Holo

We went on a little Volcano National Park holo holo yesterday. We stayed overnight, then visited the area where the flows from 1969-74 came down to the sea, and where the flows from 1983 to still going on, also came down to the sea, closing the road, probably for good.


We came down the Chain of Craters Road and parked at the red arrow, walking to where the road was covered over with lava.

The flow from 69-74, coming down the hill.

Lava art.

Like something from a H.R. Geiger drawing!

Kirsty standing on the end of the road.

When the weight of the lava isn't supported properly by previous flows, the lava can break off into the ocean in giant pieces!

Kilauea at night (and this picture I did take).

Kilauea and the full moon!

Peace my friends!

Ginger Island Girl

After months of painstaking research and a touch of alchemy, Kirsty has blended a very luxurious hawaiian facial cleanser from kukui nut oil, avocado oil, vitamin e and a wee bit of the essential oils. She has also been hand-knitting facecloths from the finest hemp yarn.

You can view her products at :
Hawaiian Facial Cleansing Oil

Peace (and a clean face) my friends!

Good As Bread

Kirsty has baked the best bread of her life, and it equals any bread we have eaten in France or Italy. She got the recipe from Jim Lahey's book "my bread." He owns Sullivan Street Bakery in New York (http://www.sullivanstreetbakery.com/). Jim studied sculpting in college before deciding to work with bakers in Italy. We think he made the right choice!

Stecca (stick in Italian) bread.

If I had scratch n'sniff, your nose would be in for a treat as well. It smells and tastes much better than it looks here. The dough has a crisp exterior and a soft, light, slightly chewy, slight sourdough tangy interior. The Italians say "good as bread" instead of "good as gold." Capice?!

Peace my friends!