On day 5 we arrived at our first scheduled destination of Seaside, OR and got a primo spot at the 1000 Trails campground. We headed off to downtown Seaside, a typical beach town with lots of curio and ice cream stores. After our early bird dinner (we found it is common for old folks like us to have supper at 4:00) we took a stroll down the main drag and boardwalk looking for some action. No people, no action and everything closed at 5:00. We returned to the bus so Fred could set up his new Spiderbeam 40 foot pole for the first time. He tuned up the ham radio and made a contact with Russia on the first try on the 20 meter band. Evidently that means something to folks who operate radios.
(By the way, Fred wanted me to tell you that if you click directly on the pictures in the blog, they will get bigger for those of you with eyesight issues)
We were parked right next to the golf course so we have a few pictures of us getting in 18 holes. Fred cheats. I won.
Friday, June 3rd was setup day for the hamfest. We drove to the convention center, got our credentials and had a whole day to fill. The bus was showing some grunge so we hired a guy in the campground to wash it and took his advice and drove to the coastal town of Astoria, a few miles north. They had a first class maritime museum that we attended and numerous other museums that we couldn't fit in. We visited the Light Ship Columbia and spoke with a ham radio operator who had volunteered there for 27 years.
We drove all over town which was very hilly like San Francisco and were drawn to a 110 foot tower. As we got close we saw that it was all decorated with the story of Lewis and Clark, a big name in these parts. The Astoria Tower was built in 1927 and restored a few times since. Fred climbed all 164 steps to the top while I stayed below to call 911 if necessary. He was thrilled with the scenery laid out before him and turned it into a fabulous photo op
The way home led us to the Fort George Brewery in a fantastic 1920's building where we had a sampling of their beers and a short tour. A Costco appeared in the middle of nowhere on the way back to Seaside and we couldn't resist. Costco is not a good store for people living in a bus. One package of toilet paper would fill our whole bathroom, so we just wandered and felt a little at home. It is informative to see the different products that are stocked in different parts of the country. Kayaks and camouflage...big sellers evidently.
Saturday was Sea-Pac Hamfest day and we had to get up at 6:00 to move the bus to the convention center. Fred wanted to beat the traffic but we had not seen dawn for awhile and he was nervous about operating without the benefit of coffee. Fred was so nervous that he disconnected everything the night before except the electric to insure a quick get-away. Morning arrived, Fred disconnected the electric and as he started to reel the cord in it caught on the cover cap that he had failed to raise and stalled the reel motor. There he stood, looking at 30 feet of dangling electric cord with the reel motor no longer “motoring.” If you know Fred, you know that he HATES to be late even if it is a self-imposed timeline. By now he has been staring and thinking for 30 minutes and I have been wisely leaving him alone. I am asleep. He decides that it has to be a fuse and runs in to retrieve the bus schematic and traces it to fuse #39. It is a 15-amper that luckily he has in his spare parts kit. It was a tough fuse to change but he had it done in about 10 minutes, the cord reeled in and the bus rolling.
We arrived at the convention center, Fred parked, made coffee and woke me up. Perfect. Almost immediately the bus caused quite a commotion and people began taking pictures of the Zed with themselves standing in front of it. Later, Fred gave his talk to about 40 people to rave reviews after which we opened up the bus to tours. The line was not as long as the line I stood in to see Dolly Parton's coach in Dollywood but the ham radio folks seemed to be as excited to see Fred's house as I was to see Dolly's.
When the crowds disbursed, Fred and I took off for lunch and found a completely different town than the night before. Throngs of people stuffed the shops, arcades, streets, boardwalk and beach. We were told it was the warmest day on record for the area in the past year and were thanked for bringing the sunshine. It was a great hamfest, one which we will probably revisit.
Thanks for the update :) Astoria and Seaside look like charming towns.
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