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Bandon Lighthouse

We had a request from one of our loyal followers to post a video of the Bandon (Coquille River) Lighthouse. Today, we were lucky to catch a ride to Bandon with our park host, Ron. He nicely swung out to the point so we could take a few videos.

The first video goes from the sea stacks to the lighthouse (cool orange parked car), including the foghorn in the background.

The second video starts at the lighthouse (cool orange car, again) in towards town.

And the last video is taken from town (specifically, the farmer’s market) starting out at the lighthouse and coming back towards town and the pier where people were crabbing.

Some history of the Coquille River Lighthouse can be found on this website.

A great legend about one of the sea stacks can be founf on this website.

Have a great day!

 

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Not quite a 3 hour tour…a 3 hour tour! (The weather didn’t start getting rough)

It was a quiet day at the park the other day. Ron, our friend and most excellent camp host, came by to see if we wanted to go for a boat ride around Lake Floras. Jeff, another long term camper at the park, had a new inflatable pontoon boat with a propane motor. We had to give it a try.

We had a fun time exploring part of the lake’s fingers and coves. The wooded shoreline reminded us of quiet canoe trips in northern Maine and Canada.

The sun was out, the ducks and geese were in full migration and the lake was quiet. A very nice outing.

Floras Lake website for more information.
Captain Ron readies the boat as I bid farewell. Yes, the ocean is just behind those dunes.
The tour included lake front homes and beautiful woods.
Captain Ron expertly guides us around the lake and safely back to shore in less than 3 hours. Thanks Captain Ron!

 

 

 

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A Saturday

Showers, laundry, a hot mug of tea, journaling and sunshine.

What a nice day.

I hope you are having a nice day, too.

Darrin is getting creative with his new camera.
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Engine Conversion – Kit Components

Well it has been confirmed that our OM617 Turbo Diesel has returned to the shop from the machinist and is being assembled for us. Yay!

Here are the main components of the conversion kit.


The adaptor that mounts the motor to the transmission is the main component.

A special starter was included to fit with the adaptor.

A custom oil pan is required to clear the rover front differential and to fit in the engine bay.

Motor mounts
Thermostat housing
Throttle mounting stuff

Getting closer!

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Boice-Cope Brake Job

D figured while we were hanging here we should take advantage of our down time and replace the rear brakes; he was planning on installing new rear drums and shoes prior to leaving, but we ran out of time and it kept snowing and snowing and snowing. Since we will soon be Turbo Charged, good braking is a bit essential!

45 minutes later and fancy new rear brakes are installed!

Once we install the new motor we will be ready to vroom and screeeeeech:)

Old brakes
New shoes
New drum – now don’t I sound like I know what I’m talking about!

 

 

 

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Fire in the Sky

Our time here at Boice Cope has often felt a bit like a refuge camp. For us while we wait for our new motor, for others due to the wildfires in the area. Over the past month the wildfires have closed Interstate 5 from California, forced evacuation of Merlin residents where our motor work is being done, and pushed others out from the Mt Shasta region. We have had fire fighters come through here in conveys heading to the fires as relief and others vacationing here during their breaks.

We thought that was all done once a bit of fall rains started, but no. The Klondike Fire, 33 miles inland from us over towards Grants Pass, which started on July 15th from a lightning strike has flared up again. A change of wind brought the smoke and ash west towards the coast for a short time. Last night while cooking dinner, we looked up to see smoke rolling in.  At sunset, we took a couple of pics and a video to share.

Our fingers are crossed with the hope of rain in the areas that have been fighting these fires all summer.

The smoke rolling in as we made supper.
The smoke turned the sun a brilliant orange as it set.
For us the smoke made an amazing bittersweet sunset.

 

 

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Small jobs on the Wee Rover

We got a couple of things done on the Wee Rover while we have been living on the Oregon coast.

Our odometer gave up the ghost on a dusty road in the Yukon. This coupled with the fact that google maps only works with cell coverage pushed us to purchase a GPS! We found the cheapest, highest rated, Garmin on Amazon and ordred it up. We now have odometer, speedometer, and mapping for North, Central, and South America. Such modern technology!)

Navigation…now we don’t have an excuse for getting lost, yea right, we’ll still get lost.
Odometer, speedometer, and who knows what else, maybe it even bakes cookies…ok wishful thinking.

D had rebuilt the front axles prior to leaving on the trip, but had not installed a steering stabilizer. We added one just to help in the off road sections coming up as we head south to Baja. For a quick taste of our future route, check out the “Baja Divide” trail. We can’t wait!

Brand new steering stabilizer, the nice clean thingee under there😁
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Stormy weather…now I have that song stuck in my head

As you could probably tell from our previous blog, we had a bit of a storm here on the Oregon coast. We weathered it quite well in our tent. We lost one pole that was javelined into the ground by the 30 mph winds and we had a bit of minor water seepage (under Darrin’s mattress this time). The pole is back in thanks to the loan of a step ladder from our host and the tent is now dry thanks to our new favorite heater and some sun. Not bad considering some of the RVs were just as damp.

Our little heater drying things out. Check out our home entertainment system turned drying rack!

The rain brought out some new friends. Anyone know their official names?

A wee little one who froze solid for 5 minutes with his back left foot in the air…I think he thought I was a giant coming to get him.
And a bigger guy (about 6 inches long) who didn’t seem to care that I was taking his picture.

The storm also changed the ocean into a whole different beast from the last video.

Okay, no more videos of the ocean…I’ll find something new.

A few showers in the forecast and then back to sunny days! Which reminds me of the tale of The Vampire in the Lazy Daze Trailer…but I’ll save that for another blog.

Happy day everyone!