Well, happy December from the Gunns and the Flying Scotsman!

A really neat thing happenend as the Gardners of Whidbey Island came down the coast to McMinnville to see us and the Tillemas and see some of the Oregon wine area we are living in.

We have had a really challenging time with the 38 degree rain, it is truely nasty, but in many ways the weather and scenery really remind us of Germany ... yeah I know all the the pictures are of clear blue skies ... my secret, eh.

When this crap breaks we will have some more pics to share. Again, this is really a neat area of the country. Remember that.

Another winery, eh?

Yup. This one, the Youngberg vinyard, about 5 mile southeast of McMinnville was a real treat. Normally they only allow tasting of their execellent wines by appointment, but last weekend they had an open house which was great. We each had a glass of Pinot, including Charles our escort.

And the Chairman of the Board, Robert Tillema, contemplates the future of his extensive holdings.

This winery and vinyard was so spectacular in the setting. It was like being on the Mosel or even being in Italy that we are familiar with. Really friendly owners, super wine, and spectacular setting ... wow!

And on the way we went by a field of Alpacas which had to be the biggest herd (flock, group, bunch, pod, whatever) of these things we had ever seen. Let's see ... how many sweaters do we have here ... ?

The holiday season is here and we hope everybody had a super Thanksgiving!

We had a really nice turkey dinner with all the fixins at the McMinamins Hotel on the main street in McMinnville. They have done a magnificent job of restoring this old building and it really adds to the downtown.

A bit of sad news according to the Gardners in Washington is that the ferry that we took from their place over to Port Townsend has been taken out of service due to too much stress on the old ship ... I guess the Flying Scotsman took its toll ... pun intended. While the ship was old, the bad part is that it will be a while before the state decides what to do to replace the ferry system ... really disrupting the flow of traffic to Whidbey and other islands.

Here's a picture of the RV in the really nice park where we are today.

The Tillemas' moving van finally arrived at their new house here in McMinnville. It's interesting that we were in Germany to see them packed up and now we are here to see that the wine is unpacked correctly.

Here's Jo-Anne helping Julie check off the stuff as it comes in the house.

Actually that was staged as we were more of a nuisance so we tried to stay more out of the way of the shippers and the homeowners as much as we could. Later over a couple of housewarming gifts we made a toast to the new home. Well, yes, now that you have noticed, that is Irish whiskey as Bob has some Irish in his heritage ... we had Scotch later ... as we both respect other cultures.

Between moving and a host of other things, Bob and Julie took us up to Portland, which is a really neat city. This view of the riverfront and Interstate 5 is kind of dark, but the restaurant we ate at is in the center where the yacht is parked.

The restaurant is actually floating and would move up and down with the waves ... a bit unsettling. But the food was outstanding and the view below of the Portland skyline out our window was beautiful.

After a walking tour of the center of town, we elected to take the free light rail system back to our car near the marina. Well, several miles later we were well on our way to Seattle but with close scrutiny of the rail map ... probably should have done it earlier ... we were able to make it back to the car.

OK, if you can't be outdoors for pictures then you are forced indoors to drink wine and tase good food. This was yesterday at one of the many local wineries as we are sampling some squash soup, blue cheese filled dates, and some of the best bordeaux around.

On Thursday we had to get the Flying Scotsman over to the Ford dealer for a routine oil change and lube job and for a recall for a potential battery indicator problem. As this is our house, it takes some coordination to deposit pets and find a place to hang out while the bus is in the shop all day. You also have to unhook all the pipes and wires and let the park know you'll be back. Jo-Anne then followed me over to the dealer and picked me up.

Fortunately the Tillemas allowed us to deposit the beasties at their place for the day and as there is always wine tasting to do, the four humans spent the day in the vineyards. The Ford service department was excellent and got the RV up and running for another 3,000 or so miles. As we were unattached, we took the opportunity to swing by the local RV dealer and fill up with propane so we didn't have to do it in a week or so. We've been running the furnace every day so the propane gets used up a bit. For the month of October it cost about $36 for the whole month, but this last two weeks here cost us $36 because it has been consistently cooler. Again, we are on an electric meter for the power so we'll see what that costs at the end of the month. Today was 54 and a pretty steady rain all day, sometimes hard.

Unfortunately the last couple of days have been quite rainy and dark for too many pics.

We did have a mission for my father and spent a day going down to the vicinity of Junction City, Oregon, to find a small park along highway 99W so this picture is for him, but a little explanation might be in order for anyone else who’s interested. Junction City is about 80 miles south of McMinnville, but a quick trip down Interstate 5.

In 1929, my father, his parents and his brother took an awesome and challenging auto trip from the Grandville, Michigan area and came to the west coast over a period of 30 days and then went back home; where I get the wanderlust, eh. My grandmother kept a diary of the trip and wrote that they camped at this park, now called the "Washburne Wayside State Park."

We did find the park which is about 4 miles north of Junction City on highway 99W on the northeastern side of the road. This used to be US 99 from the early part of the 1900s and is similar in age and cult status to the more famous US 66.

There probably wasn't a porta-potty then.

This particular park was on what was known as the Applegate Trail. In 1846 John Applegate from Dallas, Oregon, near here, blazed a trail south of here for 500 miles and hooked up with the California Trail where settlers were coming from the East. In about 4 months he and a few others then made the trail navigable for wagons and this really expanded the local Willamette Valley settlement. This was an alternative route to putting the wagons on the “treacherous” Columbia River. So this little wayside park has been here for more than 150 years.

Last weekend we went with the Tillemas to the coast. It was about a 50 mile drive from McMinnville over to Lincoln City on the coast. But on the way we decided to stop in the hamlet of Otis which is just a couple of miles from Lincoln City for a late breakfast or rather brunch. I haven't looked it up, but Otis can't have more than 200 folks, if that. In the picture here is the Otis cafe with 8 tables, right next to the Otis post office. This is another one of those places that you might miss, but after a 20 minute wait in line, we were rewarded with a super home cooked breakfast that you just can't get at any of the national chains.

We then arrived on the coast and the Pacific was awesome. Here's a bit of the coastline showing the terrain and the beach. Even though the beach looks pretty inviting, the 50 degree water and the surf would make you have to have a wet suit at the least. The waves were about 3 to 5 feet and pretty active. We had a storm the night before and I think that accounted for the wave action.

After walking out the pier in Lincoln City and then along the beach we came across this crab fisherman and some neat driftwood along the harbor. Just beyond the land in the pic is the Pacific. While you can't see it here, across the bit of water on the next piece of land were many seals and/or sea lions. There were some sea otters playing in the surf just off shore.

Night before last we had a pretty good storm which rocked the RV a bit, but it wasn't enough to make us pull the slides in ... maybe 25-35 miles an hour. Today it was really beautiful at around 60 degrees and almost no wind.

This area of Oregon has more wineries than we have seen in a while. Some of the views and products rival those of Germany or Italy. A real plus here, and the reason the Tillemas are settling here, is that the real estate prices are particularly low, coupled with the fact that Oregon has no income tax for retirees and there is no sales tax ... pretty good combination. McMinnville is a community of about 30,000 and very similar to New Braunfels, Texas. Nice small town feel and a really viable downtown with a bunch of shops and restaurants we are slowly sampling ... neat place.


Over the last weekend, our daughter Leighanne and her husband Brooks took a break from their very successful wedding photography business in Dallas to pop over to this area and see the ol' folks. Here's Brooks and Leigh and us in the sunset at one of the local wineries.

In the next picture, if we were in China, Brooks would be saying, "What kind of sauce would go good with this one?" However, we're here at the vinyard with little Kenny, the mascot of the Tillemas and he isn't on the menu tonight.

Right now though it's a pretty steady rain and 52 degrees

I know it has been a while since the last transmission, but when you are having fun it is hard to sit a bit a talk about the adventure. And this time I can't say anything bad about the park and the computer, telephone, or dish set up. This is the Olde Stone RV park on highway 18 just to the east of McMinnville, Oregon. Yup, this is camping Dad ...

We've paid the rent for a month here in this wonderful park and it is beyond our expectations.

Literally on the property next to the RV park is the Evergreen Aviation Museum, now the home of the Spruce Goose of Howard Hughes fame. It was moved here about 10 years ago from Long Beach and the facility and surroundings are absolutely first rate. I mean, this museum has its own vinyard and wine tasting ... what pilot couldn't resist. The Goose sits in the building to the left here.

There are dozens of vintage aircraft including some helicopters here but the main attraction is this huge aircraft which is still larger than anything flying today and made out of wood ... awesome. It was very difficult if not impossible to get pictures because the thing is so big. It is fortunate for all of us that someone had the money and passion to preserve this piece of aviation history.

After a break we were off to wine tasting; one has to toast Howard Hughes for his aviation contributions you know. The Willamette Valley is a fairly recent but very viable wine growing region and there are hundreds of small vinyards ready to offer free samples of thier wares with scenery to boot. Take a look at this! Flashback to Italy. It is 62 degrees out today and gorgeous.

Here's Bob and Julie Tillema, our hosts for this segment of the trip. They are recently retired from the Air Force and are redoing an old house in McMinnville as their future home.


Bob and I have served both in the States and Germany together and you might have seen pictures of the two of us on the Rhein river earlier this summer in previous blogs. Boy that sunlight really softens up the crags, eh?

Prosst or a votre sante ... here's to the water of life!

After leaving Whidbey Island on the ferry over to Port Townsend on the mainland we headed for the Marina RV park. Wow. There were only five RVs in the park and we got the only spot with a tree and a beach side location. If you look at our post from Port Townsend from a few days ago, we shot a picture of the lighthouse on Fort Worden. Just to the right of the tree here is that lighthouse shot this morning in the early morning light ... well not so early as we don't get up very early any more ... read RETIRED. Hey, the sun didn't come up until after eight so don't blame me.



This was a really pretty setting and we could have spent a bunch more time here. There was a chinese restaurant about 50 feet to the left in this picture, but we were too tired to indulge. The marina here hosts a wonderful museum concerning wooden boats and the marina and the storage area hold more wooden hulled boats than I have ever seen.

Tonight, though, we are in Centralia, Washington at the Midway RV park which was about a 150 mile day and very comfortable. This is an nice park with all the amenities like paved streets and computer hookup so it is a good stop. Gas was $3.19 a gallon and we put $100 dollars worth in the Scotsman ... first time since Vancouver, I think.

Tomorrow we will be in McMinnville, Oregon, where we will spend a month enjoying their wine country.