Awake: 6:39am Temp 49 sleep 7+53 overcast overnight @ Seaside behind the Cinema bldg.
I woke up earlier than 6:39, started the generator, turned on the heat & crawled back in bed for awhile. It got a little cooler than I expected. Last night we were joined by another RV’er & a tractor trailer in the parking lot.
Doug told us to come to their Rotary meeting @ noon time; but we decide to arrive @ 10:00am to help out with setting up the auction items or whatever. We knew no one when 1st arriving @ the Convention Center. Then a lady Rotarian by name of Mary told us that fellow Rotarians would be arriving soon with the auction items & “Yes, we could use your help” says Mary.
Our 1st assignment: cover the (10) rows of tables with plastic; no sooner were we finished with that & other Rotarians arrived with boxes of auction items. Kathy offered to help match by number, the item listed on the bidding sheets that Steve was placing on tables to the item description itself. My job, tape down the bid sheets with the description & place the auction item on the right side of the bid sheet. They were very organized with their routine having done many auctions before this one; but it still took close to (1.5) hrs to complete the job & these people did appreciate our help.
Doug, my sponsor, praised us both several times for helping them out; then asked us if we had parked behind the Cinema last night. We thanked him for the good tip. As Doug implied, lunch was in a box & it was complimentary to all of us. Maureen, the president, conducted a short meeting & then Doug introduced Kathy & me as guests & thanked us for our help. I brought a small flag from our Rotary Club of Northern Cambria County in PA to give to the President Maureen as a gesture of good will; she was very pleased to have it. She copied an address to mail an exchange memento to our Rotary Club. We ate about ½ of our lunch, thanked these guys for their hospitality & the lunch & left the meeting @ 12:35pm. They are anticipating some (300) guests @ the auction dinner tomorrow evening; I’m sure it will be a successful occasion.
We drive (5) min back to our bus; hook up the Suzuki & leave the exciting town of Seaside, OR @ 12:50pm; smooth but curvy roads & a few up & down small hills en route to the Tillamook Cheese Factory where we park in their large visitors lot @ 1:05pm.
We visited here in 2004 but the place is so interesting it deserves another look; the self tour begins with a movie describing how 10 small independent cheese factories got together to form the Tillamook County Creamery Assoc in 1909 to serve as a quality control organization. Today, the cooperative is owned and operated by approximately 130 family dairy farms. They are the very people who work the soil, milk the cows, and set the policies and direction. Profits from the cooperative go back to the farmer-owner to help keep their dairies economically sustainable. Their goal is to produce the highest quality milk and to use that milk to make natural, high-quality dairy products.
We observe some of the cheese making process & packaging & sample some different cheeses. We buy (2) 8 oz blocks of cheese, have a great tasting ice cream cone & then return to our bus. In the parking lot, we meet a Canadian family from Vancouver Island, BC who are camping along US-101 Hwy all the way to Los Angeles. Their kids are more or less being home schooled during this vacation John tells me.
More scenic viewing & curvy road travels to enjoy; arriving @ the Lincoln City Chinook Winds Casino Resort @ 5:32pm. All the RV parking area was taken up so we parked in the very empty truck staging area; went into the Casino, asked a security agent about parking for the night & after a few questions, agreed to an overnight stay. This place was busy with people gambling & in the attached convention center a billiard competition was going strong, many players from many states. In a separate room admissible by purchased ticket only, the professional women’s billiards competition was underway. The finals will be televised Sunday on ESPN.
Today’s travel: 91 miles 2+36 time 18 gal used 5.0 mpg 35 mph avg speed.
Dinner: our leftover box lunch from the Seaside Rotary Club.
Evening rain & distant thunderstorms give us smiles that we are cozy inside & parked on solid asphalt.
Evening satellite movie: “Escape” with Norma Shearer, Robert Taylor, Conrad Veidt, Nazimova, Felix Bressart, etc. Countess Shearer, mistress of Nazi general Veidt, helps Taylor get his mother (Nazimova) out of German concentration camp before WWII. 1940. A most interesting story; periods of heavy rain blanked out some of the more crucial moments however.
Lights out: 12:11am
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