ALBEIT, I HAVE ALWAYS wondered why my realizations of a wait for it day when it finally does arrive, never does seem to live up to my expectations for it and yet, I will continue looking evermore so anxiously forward to the next wait for it day.

The next wait for it day, what I have now come to call the Big Day, of course is my retirement and what makes this big day different from all the previous ones is that when my retirement begins, it will not quickly end. Yes, no more unfulfilled expectations, no more short lived summer camps, vacations or weekend trips. This upcoming big day will continue unending and my fondest hope is that it will even continue right into the paradise.

However, just like all of my childhood expectation that would only come after each of the necessary prolonged waiting period, the upcoming big day is in no hurry to wind down to the end of this ever so long countdown, in fact this wait would seems to be even more unbearably prolonged.

This countdown until the big day now stands at 488 days and these four hundred and eighty-eight days still seems to be a lifetime away!

Today I begin taking cold showers every day again and I know that there is nothing wrong with taking hot ones, however, I really believe that hot showers are a luxury and never a given.

Too, never will I not take a hot shower when it is available, but while living here in what I now consider luxury, I have decided that after each hot shower, I will conclude with a cold shower. The primary motivation for doing this is that when the Journey On resumes, I will not have to abruptly get use to them at that time.

While mowing the grass, a swallow lands on the power line near my home. I go in to get my camera and have enough time to take several photo before he flies off.

My thoughts have been how I made barbecue years ago, back when I was living with my wife shortly after returning to Texas upon leaving the Marine Corp.

So, I prepare my first barbecue today for ten of the friends who come for the meal which began at four in the afternoon and we sit in my living room because is much too warm to sit on the deck.

I remember how good the chicken turned out and decided to try the same boat technique again here for this barbecue. The chicken was so good, the meat just melted off of the bone. I even made my own sauce to improve on the flavor. The friends each brought something to go with the chicken and we had a feast.

The sunsets here on this island rock are often full of color, so I keep a watch out my window for when this happens.

This sunset began pink and then just a short time later turned to orange. However, there are too many clouds for me to get a photo of the full moon tonight.

Long I have continue in Oak Harbor with the Windjammer docked. As the warming season arrives, there have been several jobs that I have obtained but not near enough so as to put aside any money.

Therefore, my prayers continue for me to be able to support myself here in this grass mowing position which also provides so many luxury accommodations, and more important, for me to be able to find a buyer for my home.

Whilst dockside, I find that it has become too easy to obtain many things and sadly, since being docked for well over a year, I find that I have again begun acquiring things from the want.

I know that we must always seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33) but as King Solomon once asked, Who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? (Ecclesiastes 2:19)

So, What is a person to do?

The simple answer is prayer to the most high God. A more complicated one is found in the Bible at Luke 14:33 where Jesus is teaching the crowds about how to become one of his disciples and he says, So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Yes, it is complicated, we must learn to depend entirely upon God for our existence, not possessions.

As the days of this system continue rushing towards their end, I find myselƒ compelled to reexamine the value of each of these my possessions during this last chapter of Passage Four, The Burden which totally involves the dispossession of my things, particularly those things of the want.

Thus this examination of the worth of my possessions, an examination previously used often during preceding decades, has once again been invoked by me to help determine which of these many possessions will continue to be transported as the Burden and more importantly, which will be tossed.

It has always remained totally essential for the Wayfarer in this determination of things, that the need must forever outweigh the want.

Thus, in this examination of what should be retained, the want must be suppressed to a position of insignificance while the need ennobled to an art form.

Nevertheless, not having possessions is entirely part of the Real Way, despite the fact that the importance of not pursuing possessions is not discussed anywhere within the Steps Upon the Way which are discussed on this website in the section called the Real Way.

Still, for me in these final moments of these last days, it really does not matter to me what others say or think, because this is the path I have chosen in order to more fully follow the words of the Master.

This recalls to mind what Jesus said when a certain ruler questioned him, saying: Good Master, what shall I do to inherit everlasting life? ( Luke 18:18)

How clearly do I remember the answer that Jesus provided! Jesus recognized that the man was both rich and overly attached to his possessions, so Jesus told him to sell everything he owns and give the money to the poor.

Although I am not rich in any sense of the word, verily, I do so relate to how that man must have felt as I find it a hard thing to give up those few possessions I have, especially those things which have special meaning and attachment.

So, again, I ask, What is a person to do?

During years of Bible reading, I find it always important to examine the context of any verse, so it would be wise to do the same with the above text at Luke 18:18.

I find great comfort and direction in the answer Jesus gave to the question Peter asked Jesus in verse 28. The answer Jesus gave Peter continues to help me in my desire to dispossess my belonging as much I am able to do. (Luke 18:28-30)

Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee. And he (Jesus) said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children for the kingdom of God′s sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.

These words of Jesus are what I must needs do if I am to follow after Jesus and these words continues to be my solitary motivation for why I must keep my personal possessions to a ablolute minimum, striving to carry as my burden only what will sustain me for the journey at hand.

Once again, the longest day of the year has arrived to the place where I park the jammer and my most pressing thought is how much longer am I to stay here on this island rock until I will be able to sell my mobile home.

Methinks, only Jehovah knows the answer to that question.

Late today, I leave the island, drive down the interstate to Tacoma, Washington and then into the parking lot of the hotel next to the dome. It is late when I arrive, so I park the jammer, take a photo and then get in the back of the to sleep.

This past weekend has been both spiritual enlightening and encouraging. After the sessions, I would go to the nearby restaurant and there met Greg and Kathy, a couple who I had met at a previous convention.

We had breakfast together twice during which I found out that they live on Orcas Island which is only a ferry ride away from the island where I live.

Now that I have returned to the island again, I will continue to do two things. First and foremost is the dispossession of my things and, second, keep plucking away at making my home more sell able.

It is early morning, I am home listening to jazz on the radio and still awaiting for the hour to come, that of my second barbecue of the season to begin. Since the days are now warmer, the gathering will start at five this evening and the hope is that the temperature will be comfortable enough to enjoy the food on the deck.

For the last two days, I have been cooking the chicken, using an old recipe that I developed when I lived on Bissonette street in Houston. The chicken, immersed in the barbecue sauce is slow cooked for about three hours. After it is done, I enjoy it with some beans or potato salad.

To save it for another day, it is placed in containers and stored in the refrigerator. Just before we eat, I put it in a large flat tray, cover it in my sauce and bake at 350 degrees for twenty-five minutes.

I have the recipe for my barbecue sauce on a wayƒarer′s Recipe Page.

This is the month of the buck full moon and there have been a lot of young deer who are feeding in my yard, especially where I run the water sprinkers.

The summer has begun here in this harbor, the days are now cool at even but hot during the afternoons. Not hot like where I grew up where it is now in the three digit temperatures but in the seventies.

Still, the 70′s is hot for the Pacific North Wet all the same.

Tonight, about about an hour before midnight I noticed a glow outside and go to investigate. Too my surprise and wonder, I see the full moon with a lunar bow ¹ casting its glow through a thick layer of clouds.

This is just one more of many photos that I have been able to capture showing the beauty of the moon glow.

Too, these photos are of a pair of young deer that have begun to visit my green grass lawns and both have become a regular sight on the property.

I watch these two begin to grow and in no time they loose their spots.

I had to work hard to get my garden to this point. After adding a lot of compost to the dirt, turning it deeply, I planted garlic, lettuce, onions, parsley and tomatoes. .

The herbs in the front flower garden are doing well as are the purple flowers along my walk ways which have been blooming for over a month.

I have already harvested the lettuce and parsley, some tomatoes and soon, I will be pulling up a few onions because they are almost tennis ball size

The sky has been overcast during the evenings and has has a fog bank in the morning making the moon not visible for several days. However, when I went out to look for the moon last night, the sky was very bright because of it being full.

Also, with all the overcast conditions at night, I do not expect to see any of the Perseid meteor shower which peaks on the fourteenth of August every year.

Recently, someone wrote me and asked: How many days until you go to Mexico? This friend knows me fairly well and that I like to count the days before an event. I replied to my friend: I have absolutely no idea!

Yes, when I go to Mexico is not something that I can count down to; rather, it is something that I have to patiently wait for until it happens. This is because I am still waiting for my home to sell.

However, when it does sell, then I can begin that journey. Nevertheless, I haven′t a clue why I am still here. Now if he had asked me how many days until I begin receiving Social Security, then I could have given him a precise number of days, 384 and a wakeup! Yes, I absolutely do days counts!

I have had a couple of people look at my home and one young military man ² said that he was really-really interested in buying it. He came back a week after he first viewed it and said that he still wants it and has devised a way to come up with the money to pay cash for my home.

He said that he will be going on DET (navy acronym for detachment from home port) and will be earning over a thousand dollars extra a week due to the hazardous duty. He told me that by the time he returns, he will have the money. I do hope that will do what he has told me and that it is not be too long form now.

For those who have not heard, the Oak Harbor Congregation’s Territory has been designated as Seldom Worked territory, which means simply that we are not able to reach everyone in our area at least once a year and I don′t think we have ever done so in the twenty-two years I have lived here.

Due to this, there were several groups from Oregon who came and stayed for up to two weeks this summer to help us work our territory. This proved to be a great experience and a real joy to have these friends come to stay and work in the ministry with us. Amazingly, most gave up their vacation time for this endeavor, thus showing their love for Jehovah and neighbor.

Lots of friendships were started and many exchanged contact information. Don′t we have a grand brotherhood?

The Oak Harbor Congregation has had the same Kingdom Hall since the early seventies and it looks it’s age even though we have painted and remodeled it several time. If I am not mistaken, we now have the oldest Kingdom Hall without a rebuild in the North West.

Too, we have been wanting to build a new hall for over two years but we have not been able to get the approval from the city engineers. The Regional Building Committee (RBC) has been helping us try to get our construction plans approved but the city keeps rejecting what has been submitted. The city says the rejections are all about the runoff water and where it will go from our property.

We have tried to connect to the city storm drain system but we would have to go through private property for several blocks, about three hundred yards away to connect to the nearest storm drain. The city rejected that idea too.

Recently, the RBC learned of and is trying a new idea, which is to retain all of the water on our property by using special pervious concrete together with rain gardens.

What is a rain garden? is exactly what I asked when I first heard about it. A RBC brother explained to me that a rain garden is a planted depression on the property with good absorption qualities that allows rainwater runoff from impervious areas like roofs, walk ways, and parking lots, the opportunity to be absorbed.

This rain garden thus reduces rain runoff by allowing it to soak into the ground as opposed to flowing into storm drains or surface water. The rain garden is prepared beforehand by digging out the a sump hole, and then filling the hole part way with a gravel, pipes, inlets and outlets and a liner. Next the dirt next to the sump hole is dug out to the sub grade and then replaced with a sandy loam into which native deep rooted plants are planted.

This is somewhat of a new approach in the northwest that has had success with the high amounts of rain we get here. We think that the city will approve the new permit request with this design and that we will be able to break ground sometime during the beginning of next year.

Maybe, this is the reason why I am still here, Jehovah wants me to stay and help the brothers build the new Kingdom Hall, and I would be happy to stay for this reason.

The last time a Kingdom Hall was built on this island, I was used for the night time security because I was able to stay overnight on the property and could even sleep in my van. I did this for nearly three weeks back then and I have volunteered for the same duty on the Oak Harbor Kingdom Hall build.

Making an journal entry on this date if for the reason that there is exactly three hundred days and a wakeup left before the big day. I hope that these last three hundred will go by quite quickly but suspect that they will continue ever so slowly.

Even so, I have watched as 1369 days have slowly dwindled down since I first began the countdown on January 01, 2009, and this is in fact the longest countdown that I have ever undertaken in my entire life.

Thinking back, I remember the previous long one, which was the time just before leaving the military of which I began that countdown at just over 1000 days. However that countdown was cut short at 790 days, and became a countdown of only Seven days and a wakeup. This was when my efforts were wholly directed to getting a medical discharge and when I received it, I then had seven days of final processing for my discharge.

Nevertheless, I look forward to next fall when the current countdown will wind down to the single digits when I will soon become eligible for social security and my hope is that it will not be too much of a hassle to get it started.

Today is the Winter Solstice and in being so is the shortest day of the year. In my location located just above the 48th latitude, the sunrise is at 7:58 AM and sunset is at 4:14 PM with the daylight lasting only eight hours and sixteen minutes. Further to the north the days are even shorter.

An example is much shorter daylight today in Anchorage (61°12′ 13″ N., 150°01′ 0.5″ W.) is a little under five and a half hours. However, Houston, most of which is below the 30th parallel has a whopping ten hours and fourteen minutes of daylight.

So what does one do in the northern latitudes on these short winter days? Myselƒ, when it is overcast and raining, I usually spend much of the daylight hours indoors working on legal documents for my customers. Other times, especially like today when it is sunny and warm, (mid forties) I go to the bank, post office, the mart store to buy some groceries and sometimes even to the shoreline to take photos of the ducks who have come here for the winter to mate.

One more thing that I have been enjoying, that would be my hot showers. It is because I keep the thermostat down as low as I can keep it, no warmer than 55° F at night and not more than 62° F during the day, that I often take two or more hot showers each day.

Hot showers keep the body oils off of my skin which by doing so, promote keeping warm. Still, even with enjoying the many hot showers, I have never given up taking cold showers. Yes, each day, at least once a day, usually in the morning, after I have taken a hot shower, I turn off the hot water and at the same time turn fully on the cold water and completely rinse with the cold water.

I know this would be shocking to many who don′t normally take cold showers but I enjoy it, even feeling addicted to the invigorating feeling it provides me.

The hearing for the building permit for the Kingdom Hall is coming up soon, next week. A hearing is required because we are asking for a variance in order to build the hall in a neighborhood. It is true that we already have a hall in the neighborhood, but whenever you build a new structure, you have to ask for the variance again.

The hearing will determine whether we will receive our building permit or not and so far, it looks really good that we will, but you never know in these last days. Please keep us in your prayers.

Waking at seven this morning, I look outside and see over six inches of new fallen snow. This is the first snow this winter and the second winter in a row that it has snowed on the Island.

As I walk outside I notice a stark quietness and see not one bird about. I walk to the bird feeder and make sure it has seed but find it completely empty. After filling the feeder, I go to the Windjammer to retrieve my camera and take photos of the Snow.

It has been over an hour since awakening and the snow, a heavy wet one and now over six inches deep, continues to fall. The surrounding trees are thick with this snow with their branches bent low.

After spending over and hour feeding the birds and shoveling the walk ways, I return inside, make a cup of hot and continue the remainder of this day working on the photo journals for this web site.

The forecast is snow for the next two days but the low temperature will only be in the low thirties allowing for more snow melt than snow accumulation.

By one in the afternoon, the snow fall has stopped and the thermometer shows the temperature to have reached 40°F and I go outside to see how much snow fall accumulation there is. Not much later, the temperature reverses direction.

By three, the temperature is 37°F but the sky is blue overhead and the temperature continues to drop the rest of the day and before six this evening it is below freezing.

Two to three inches of fresh snow. The birds have eaten all of the feed and I have to refill the feeder for them. Too, the mother dear that has been perusing my grass for over a year and one of her young ones come by today. I am not sure what happened to the second yearling or if I did not see it when they came by.

I go outside shortly after midday to try to drive out of the mobile home park. Once I get out of my driveway onto the mobile home park road, the Windjammer just sits there and spins the tires. I decide to do some snow shoveling to remove the packed snow on the park road just in the area directly in front of my drive way.

After removing the ice, I try again at about one in the afternoon and I am able to get a running start to make it up the park road onto the city street which is mostly clear. Today, I only have one stop to make and that is to go the hall and put out the garbage for pickup.

The weather forecast has changed pushing back the rain from Wednesday until Thursday or Friday. This means that the snow will remain on the ground until the rain happens, which ever day that will be. So, I am looking at possibly five of six days confined in the snow storm before the snow melt.

Tomorrow, I will go outside and do some more shoveling on the mobile home road so that I can drive out of here if it is necessary.

With it looking like the building of the new hall could get under way as early as the end of next Month or soon thereafter, I now have something that could occupy my time as well as my mind while I am waiting for my home to sell.

However, I still can hardly keep from packing out and hitting the road now. So, to keep me from going totally wacky, I am planning another short journey south along the Oregon coast and hopefully, it will begin sometime before the end of this month with me arriving back on the island in plenty of time for the commencement of the new hall building.

Until, then, I want to get my garden soil ready for the spring garden by adding some compost and then put some of my vegetables in the ground.

After getting an early start this morning, I drive the interstate down through Seattle and i am through this city before the commuter traffic even begins, the through Olympia and then through Portland without any traffic slowdowns and do not leave IH 5 until Grants Pass where I turn towards the coast using US 199, drive through Cave Junction to Crescent City California and then turn north on US 101 to Brookings, Oregon.

It is a long day of driving, over six hundred miles, but I have decided that since the last search for light on the Oregon coast ended up with me spending most of my time in Oregon on the north and central portions of the coast, this time I will drive right to the south coast and begin my exploration from the bottom of Oregon, driving back to Washington from there.

I make it to Harris Beach state park just as the sun is setting, check in, drive to my space and prepare for the evening. I end up getting horizontal shortly after, only have some walnuts and almond milk.

Up early, walk to the shower house to take a hot shower and then make a cup of hot tea. Then, I pack out and drive into Brookings to locate the lighthouse. After asking, I find out that the best view is from the harbor parking lot where it can be seen on the bluff overlooking the harbor.

Pelican Bay Light is a small privately owned lighthouse on a 100 foot cliff overlooking the port of Brookings harbor at the mouth of the Chetco River. The light is 141 feet above sea level, operated and maintained by Bid Cady and family who lives in the residence adjacent to the light. The light has a fixed acrylic Fresnel lens which has a range of eleven nautical miles (about 12.6 miles). This lighthouse is the newest lighthouse in the United States and the second private lighthouse on the Oregon Coast.

After taking several photos, I drive to the w-mart to check com and purchase a cup of hot coffee. Shortly after that, I leave Brookings heading north on US 101 to North Bend where I drive to the hall for the meeting tonight. There is two halls here and I find the one with the English Congregation. Going inside, i find the friends to be very warm, many of whom greet me.

Afterwards, I drive to the d-mart where I climb into the back of the jammer and get horizontal.

After sleeping in this morning, I head for the w-mart for coffee and to work online for a short time and end up spending the entire morning on my computer.

Then, in the afternoon, I decide to go to the coast to see the wave action because I several here have told me that the surf is very large today. I drive 13 mile south of Coos Bay on the Cape Arago highway to Shore Acres state park.

After finding a parking spot, I walk to the cliff pavilion, then to the railed view point at edge of the cliff for the view of the ocean.

What I was told earlier I find to be true, the sea is very heavy today.

I stay here on the edge of the cliff for some time as I am very impressed with the shear power the ocean displays as it pounds the rocky coast here.

Later, I drive back to the d-mart and park for the evening.

I rise early this morning, drive to the w-mart for a cup of coffee and then head to the coast arriving shortly after eight this morning. The first stop is at Sunset Bay state park where I see some rocks offshore that call to me to photograph. It takes several tries before I am able to capture the exploding waves on the rocks.

Next, I find a location where I can photograph the lighthouse. I start taking photos but I notice an area of sunlight coming through a hole in the clouds which is moving towards the lighthouse, so I wait.

When it arrives directly on the lighthouse, I take quite a few photos.

Cape Arago Light which is on an offshore island called by the native Coos Indians, Chiefs Island. The first light was lit in 1866 which lasted until 1906 when the second light in a wooden structure was built and subsequently lit. Erosion eventually threatened the second light and a third light in a concrete structure was built. It was first lit in 1934. The tower stood 44 feet high and the forth order Fresnel lens that had been in the second light was used. The third light could be seen 14 nautical miles (16 miles) offshore. It was decommissioned on January 01, 2006.

During the winter of 2012-2013, the original wood bridge that you see in the next photo accessing the light was eroded away by the sea.

Leaving the Cape Arago point, I cross back over the bridge in Charleston, drive back through North Bend, connect to US 101 and drive south to Brandon, Oregon and arrive at the Coquille river lighthouse.

Originally named Bandon Light (43.123911° -124.424222°), the Coquille River Light was commissioned in 1895 and first lit on February 29, 1896. The light had a forth order Fresnel lens which was mounted in a 40 foot conical tower, 47 feet above sea level. The light was deactivated in 1939 but now supports a solar lens which is visible only from the nearby area and Brandon, Oregon.

When walking near the lighthouse, I see two eagles perched on driftwood and just can not miss this opportunity to take several photographs of the eagles.

Then, I leave the north side of the Coquille river, drive the twelve miles on Bullards beach road from the lighthouse back to US 101, then cross the river, drive through Brandon and make my way to the end of Jetty road where I can photograph the lighthouse from the south jetty.

Upon arriving at Brandon South Jetty Park, methinks the view and photos of the light are much better from the south side of the Coquille river.

Then, I leave Brandon, drive further south on US 101 and arrive in the town of Sixes, Oregon, cross the Sixes river and then continue south on US 101 almost a mile and arrive at Cape Blanco road where I turn west and drive through the state park to Cape Blanco where the next lighthouse waits for me to visit.

The light juts out one and a half miles into the Pacific Ocean from the southern Oregon coast, the most westerly point in Oregon and terminates in a large headland with 200 foot cliffs along most of its perimeter.

These cliffs are chalky white and are what prompted early Spanish explorers to name this landmark Cape Blanco (White Cape).

The Cape Blanco Light was constructed in 1870 with brick, has a conical tower attached to a workroom and first lit on December 20, 1870. The 59 foot white tower has a red dome and a green light 256 feet above sea level. The original first order Fresnel when moved to Astoria in 1936, was replaced with a second order Fresnel lens which has a range of 23 nautical miles (26 miles).

After my visit to this light, this completes all the lights on the southern coast below Coos Bay, so I return to the US 101 and drive back to North Bend where I will again overnight before moving to more lights further north.

However, while in North Bend, I would like to visit my brother Robert, his wife Ellen and their kids, so I stop at the d-mart to purchase some small die-cast cars and a jump ramp for Wyatt which I know he will love.

Upon leaving Robert and his family, I head for the d-mart, find a place to park and climb into the back for the night.

After rising early, I drive to a w-mart for a cup of hot and checking my com before starting my drive north. Then, I leave North Bend, cross the high bridge over Coos Bay and continue north along the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area and soon arrive at the next light on the Umpqua River. (43.662291° -124.198476°)

The first lighthouse in Oregon was lit in 1857 closer to the mouth of the river but was undermined and the destroyed by flood in 1864 and rebuild here in 1891. The conical tower is 61 feet tall with an attached workroom.

The light is a first order Fresnel which is 165 feet above sea level and has a 21 nautical mile (24 miles) range. The lighthouse is open for tours.

After driving past the Oregon Dunes, I soon cross the Siuslaw river, drive through Florence, Oregon and I see a restaurant with old Chevys on the roof, from 1954 through 1962. I go inside and there are more hot rods used as dining tables.

Leaving Florence, I continue into the Siuslaw national forest and then make my first stop at Sea Lions Cave. Upon walking inside, I see a popcorn machine near the front counter with a sign which reads We make our popcorn with coconut oil. I buy a bag and enjoy some really good popcorn.

After walking through the store and purchasing a couple of embroidered patches, I then go outside and notice to the north that the Heceta Head lighthouse is visible from here, so I grab my camera an take a couple of photos.

I get back into the jammer, drive a little further north on US 101 and come to another viewpoint for the Heceta Head light where I pull over and take photos.

The construction of Haceta Head Lighthouse began in 1892 and it was lit in 1894. The conical 56 foot tower is constructed from brick with an attached work room. The light is a first order Fresnel lens at 205 feet above sea level and has a range of 21 nautical miles (24 miles), the strongest light on the Oregon coast.

Leaving the viewpoint, I continue my drive towards Washington on US 101 and just on the north side of Cape Perpetua, still in Siuslaw national forest and just south of Yachats, Oregon, I stop at a viewpoint aside the highway were I can photograph the private lighthouse know as Cleft of the Rock.

Built in 1976 by former lighthouse keeper and noted maritime historian Jim Gibbs, Cleft of the Rock Lighthouse takes its name from a hymn which included the words He Hideth My Soul in the Cleft of the Rock, which is roughly based on the Bible verse at Exodus 33:22 in the American Standard Version.

The tower stands 34 feet high and serves as the entrance to the home. The light is 110 feet above sea level, has two forth order Fresnel lenses and a range of 16 miles. The Coast Guard made the light an official aid to navigation in 1979.

The builder and owner, Jim Gibbs, a former Tillamook Rock Light attendant and historian died at home on 30 April 2010, after which the lighthouse has been maintained by his daughter and son-in-law and remains closed to the public.

Then, I leave the Cleft of the Rock, continue north on US 101, through Waldport, past Seal Rock and then arrive in Newport where I stop at the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse finding it open.

The lighthouse was only active for three years, from Movember 3, 1871 until October 1, 1894. The Yaquina Bay Light was decommissioned because the Yaquina Head Light which was first lit on August 20, 1873 made it obsolete and the lens was move to another light in California.

However, the Bay Light building was used by the Army Corp of Engineers as a living quarters between 1888 and 1896. The Coast Guard also used it a a living quarters from 1905 to 1915 and the steel observation tower was built at that time. In 1934, the lighthouse was purchased as a state park. The lighthouse was re-lit on December 07, 1996 with a lens on loan from lighthouse historian Jim Gibbs.

Currently, the light is maintained by the Coast Guard as a navigational aid and its light has a range of six mile. It is open for public viewing. The Yaquina Bay Light is the only lighthouse in Oregon in which the living quarters are housed in the same building as the light.

With such good weather that I have had today, I decide that I can go to one more lighthouse today and head for the Yaquina Head Light arriving here shortly after three-thirty. (44.676778  -124.079417)

The Yaquina Head Light, also known early in its existence as the Cape Foulweather Lighthouse, is located a short distance north of the mouth of the Yaquina River and the port of Newport on Yaquina Head.

The light was lit on August 20, 1873, has a first order 1868 French-made fixed Fresnel lens with an 18.5 nautical miles (21.3 miles) range. The conical tower with attached oil house is white with a black top, built with brick and stands 93 feet tall, making it the tallest lighthouse in Oregon. The lighthouse is open for tours.

After leaving Yaquina Head Light, I drive north on US 101 five miles to Beverly Beach state park, check in, drive to my space and set up for the night.

This is not my favorite Oregon state park campground, mainly because it has quite a lot of swampy areas that the campsites occupy. Methinks that this park would rate much less than what I have rated it if I had come during a warmer period, simply because the swampy area would be replete with insects.

Leaving out in the morning, I drive north on US 101 and come to a place where the old US route runs closer to the coast and I choose to drive the old highway.

This route brings me to Otter Crest state scenic viewpoint where there is a lookout and gift shop which calls the viewpoint, Cape Foulweather. I stop and walk to the end of the walkway to check out the view and in doing so find that I can see Yaquina Head Lighthouse from here, but far in the distance.

I continue north on US 101 through Depoe Bay, Lincoln City, Neskowin, and then take three capes scenic drive to the west from US 101 and drive (methinks the old 101 highway) through Pacific City, past Cape Kiwanda, Cape Lookout, and Cape Meares where I stop to see the lighthouse here.

When I arrive at the Cape Meares Lighthouse, the entire cape is socked in with fog and cold wind. I still walk the 1000 foot walkway (one-way) out to lighthouse to get a photo of the light. (45.486474°  -123.978309°)

The Light was built in 1890, houses a first order Fresnel lens with a 21 nautical miles (24 mile) range. The octagonal tower and attached workroom is is thirty-eight feet in height but sits on a cliff 200 feet above the ocean making the light 223 feet above sea level. The light was decommissioned in 1963.

I leave Cape Meares, continue on the scenic route back to US 101 in Tillamook, Oregon where I turn north, drive through Garibaldi, Rockaway Beach, Nehalem, and arrive at Haystack Rock right before the sun sets, about six-thirty pm. I pull into Cannon Beach, drive to the viewpoint and get out with my camera.

I am back on US 101 heading north in just thirty minutes, right at seven pm. I leave Cannon Beach, drive through Seaside, Gearhart and arrive at Fort Stevens state park at seven-thirty pm. I drive to the entrance station, complete a camping permit, choose a camp site, return to the entrance station, drop the permit into the drop slot and then head to the camp site all before eight pm and go right to the shower house.

I then park the jammer plug in my electric cord and begin charging my batteries and writing my journal entry for today but before I finish the journal, I get horizontal and I am asleep by nine pm.

I am awake early this morning because I want to tour both the state park and the national park that are nearby. After I boil a pot of water and make a cup of hot, I then prepare my meal, a cup of daystart.

Soon after, I am driving through Fort Stevens and visit a few of the defense installation used to stop the Japanese submarines during World War II.

On the night of 21–22 June 1942, the Japanese submarine I-25 surfaced off Fort Stevens and fired 17 shells from her deck gun, making Fort Stevens the second military installation in the continental United States to come under enemy fire in World War II. (The first, eighteen days earlier, was Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.) The Japanese attack caused no damage to the fort itself, only the backstop of the baseball field in the fort was destroyed.

In the afternoon, I leave Fort Stevens and drive to Fort Clatsop, a replica of the fort that was built by Lewis and Clark during their winter stay on the Oregon Coast.

Fort Clatsop was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River from December 08, 1805 through March 23, 1806. Located along the Lewis and Clark River at the north end of the Clatsop Plains approximately 5 miles southwest of Astoria, the fort was the last encampment of the Corps of Discovery, before embarking on their return trip east to St. Louis.

And this is my last encampment before returning north to Oak Harbor to get ready for the building on the new hall there.

s and drive to the beach to see the remains of the Peter Iredale, a sailing ship that sunk here in 1906

Notably, today makes two hundred days until officially starting retirement, a note worthy day indeed and truly a triple digit midget. However, more exceedingly momentous is what day it will be on the upcoming summer solstice, June 21.

That day will be the last triple digit day on this toilsomely long wait since the triple digits began on the sixth of January, 2010 with 999 BR.

It amazes me that the 100 day mark falls on the summer solstice; and it wasn′t even planned to do so. Thus, the twenty-second of June will be a momentous day indeed as it commences the first of the double digit days that will occur during this wait. To be a double digit giant will not be a bad thing with only 99 BR

On a spiritual note, we have been notified that the RBC is coming this Saturday to meet with the servants in both of the Oak Harbor Congregations. ³ This will be our first congregation meeting with the RBC and should find out all the details of the upcoming building project. There is much to do in the upcoming weeks and I am sure all in the Oak Harbor congregations are looking forward to it.

I was busy working on the project to move my web sites to a new host, a move that has proven it is be better for me to update the html code to a newer version when suddenly it came to me that there was a meeting today at three pm. I got up quickly to see what time it was and found it was just two. I was relieved that I had not worked past the start of the meeting with the RBC. I also began to wonder what the meeting would be about because this would be our first one.

Just back from the meeting and I learned quite a bit. The meeting was for the elders and ministerial servants of both the English and Spanish congregations, only a few not being present. As the meeting progressed, each of the RBC brothers had a specific part as outlined on the two-sided handout. One thing that I appreciated was that there were ample opportunities for questions and answers; the brothers from the Oak Harbor Congregation made good use of this provision. Too, at the beginning, each of those who arrived were given a copy of the floor plan to the new hall. I asked if there was a plot plan available but one RBC brother told me he had one but did not make extra copies. One of the early parts included the setting up elders as local contacts: one as accountant, one for attendance, flagging and security department; one for the food services department; one for the rooming department; one for the first aid and safety department and one for the contact department as a contact for the local city offices. There were other assignment and most of the elders received one.

Next, the discussion turned to the financial and accounting, then the status of drawings and permits, needs for the site work, and finally the closing notes which included information and requests about insurance, construction schedule and encouragement to continue with the congregation meeting schedules.

Today is the first day of a two day circuit assembly having the theme Let God′s name be Sanctified that I will attend. I have truly enjoyed this first day of talks. I will park the Windjammer at the nearest Mart store and by not driving back home this evening I am able to save a substantial amount of gasoline and really, it does not matter to me where I sleep at night because I have been sleeping in the Windjammer for some time now. So, I drive to a nearby mart-store to spend the evening.

There are several already parked for the night when I arrive and one arrives shortly after I do. When I try to make conversation with the new comer, he just shrugs me off and goes into his trailer, not to be seen again. This is not anything like the camping that I grew up with in the south during the sixties where we always visited our neighbor to say hello and sometimes we would get an invite to have supper or in the least, a cup of coffee or even a cookie.

I suppose the world was friendlier then, people were much nicer and eager to get to know their neighbors. Now, it seems that no one wants to befriend anyone anymore, let alone their neighbors in the trailer ten feet away on either side. What most do now is climb out of their pickup, walk back to the trailer and are not seen until they climb back into their pickup to drive away the next morning.

Now that I am on my soap box, I would like to voice another grip! The people who do this call it camping (those who drive in their pickup, pulling a trailer and stop in a parking lot) but I say that it is anything but camping.

Even if they pull their trailer to a state or national park, I still say that it is not camping. What then should it be called? I call it overnighting, and I would define overnighting as taking your possessions on a road trip, nothing else. Too, overnighting is more akin to staying in a motel than it is to camping.

Even though I know people who think staying in a motel is roughing it... never could you say that staying in a motel is camping by any stretch of the imagination.

Yes, I grew up in a time when camping was defined as going out into the forest regardless of the means how you get there. Once there, you would set up a tent, dig a fire pit and a latrine and cook your meals on an open flame. The only flame that most of today′s so called campers have is the lighter for their cigarettes.

Back then, even when we were car camping, we still set up a tent, lit a camp fire so as to enjoyed the outdoors. Now, most so called campers go into their trailers to cook supper in a well equipped kitchen, enjoy their meal with a glass of wine while watching a movie, take a hot shower and then go to sleep in a comfortable bed in a thermostat controlled bedroom.

These self professed modern day campers never have to, nor do they normally ever leave the luxury of the trailer even to go to the latrine. To be perfectly honest, I don′t think any of these modern day campers even know what a latrine is.

To accommodate an entirely new group of so called campers, some state parks have set up Yurts to provide a camping experience to those who don′t have the over-the-road luxury camping vehicles. Yes, just drive to your nearby State Park, pay the overnight fee, obtain the key and then drive into the parking space next to your modern State Park camping experience. Many of the Yurts are equipped with stove and microwave, refrigerator, toilet, shower and some parks even have dishes, soap and towels.

And to spite the fact that this is no where near anything like real camping, they advertise it to be "A true camping experience!" To be honest, once every year or two, I may even fork over the forty or fifty bucks to stay in a Yurt, but please, stop calling it a camping experience. It is no more a camping experience as is the pickup pulling the trailer or a stop at Hotel 99.95, but instead, these are at best, just paying for luxury accommodations in the woods.

And the saddest part about this true camping experience is, after most people check in, the only time they go out into the woods again is when they check out.

Nevertheless, I travel in a way similar to those above, because I drive the Windjammer, which is more like a mini-motor home than anything else. Inside this motor home, I have a storage for tools and auto supplies, storage for personal items such as clothing and toiletries, a rack to hang suits and coats, a food pantry, a kitchen which includes my backpacking stove, sleeping accommodations and a cockpit and battery charging center all built into the Windjammer.

What, you say is the difference between how the others travel and myselƒ? The difference that I experience is that I have never called this camping, not even roughing it as I consider my vehicle just as luxurious as any other type of modern motorized accommodation. Only, I just do it more compactly in a mini van and I might add, a lot less expensive.

A fellow wayƒarer and good friend once told me that if it has wheels and a door, it is not camping, instead, it is just overnighting in in the woods.

To each his own, but please, stop annoy me by calling this camping!

I arrived back from the assembly last evening and pulled into the garage to ready myself for the night′s rest. However, before I climb into the jammer, I go inside for a hot shower. It is nice to have how water on my body after a weekend trip.

Awake early this morning and clean up the jammer after my short time away. Too, I take off the front grill so that I can install some electrical 110 volt wiring to provide electricity to the inside of the jammer. I will have an electric three prong plug accessible for using an extension cord to plug the jammer in to an electrical outlet.

Later, I go to the hall to see what is going on there and find some prep work being done for the upcoming demolition of the old structure and a new hall build.

Afterwards, I go to the w-mart to get online, out to the Mexican restaurnat and then back home to overnight in the garage.

Normally, by this time of the year, I would already have some vegetables in the ground, but because it has been a very wet and cold spring, nothing has been planted. I did buy some lettuce about two weeks ago but they remain located in a warm spot still unplanted.

Since the sun is bright and it is not raining today, I will purchase a few more vegetables and finish preparing the ground so as to plant them. Last year, neither the lettuce nor the spinach did any good, however, I was able to grow about forty nice size onions, all the size of a tennis ball.

Also, of the five tomato plants I put in, three did very well. Too, last year, I bought a parsley plant that did not grow much but it did overwinter and is already responding to the spring sun.