I awoke yesterday morning to the sound of a raucous flock of crows around our motorhome. At 7am, one or more of them started hopping around on the roof of our coach. Very noisy.

About 15 minutes later, I heard the sound of chains. It sounded like someone was unclipping the safety chain on our trailer. I got up and put on my shorts and t-shirt to investigate. A flat bed trailer with a porta-potty on it had been left in the lot overnight. Some county employees were hooking the trailer up to their truck.

By now, I was fully awake with no chance of falling back asleep. I posted to the blog, then headed outside. The weather was glorious – not a cloud in the sky – warm, but not hot.

I walked back up the highway, retracing the the way we drove in. I was looking for the Ace Hardware store Donna saw when we arrived. It was about 3/4 of a mile up the road. I was in search of 5/16″ self-tapping sheet metal screws to secure the loose compartment cover on the coach. They didn’t have any though. I’ll have to make do with safety wire until I can find a suitable fastener.

On the walk back, I shot a couple of photos. The first one is looking across the river, upriver from downtown. On the hillside across the river, you can see the aftermath of a large slide. It reminded me of the devastating mudslide near Darrington, Washington.

I took another photo looking toward the downtown area. I’ve marked the city dock and the city boat launch. As always, clicking on the photos will enlarge them.

When I reached the downtown area, I walked up the hill to the Pacific County Courthouse. This stately building was completed in 1910. It’s a beautiful piece of architecture.

The view from the hill is very nice. I shot a photo from the courthouse steps.

When I returned to the coach, Donna was out perusing some of the shops downtown. She found a nice set of exercise dumbbells in a thrift shop. It has three pairs – 2lb, 3lb and 5lb with special grips that allow them to be doubled up – all in a nice carrying case for $10! She’s been wanting something like this. She also picked up some clay pots for her herbs.

I was getting anxious to move our rig out to the boat ramp. I saw several RVs pull through town and two coaches stopped in the lot where we stayed overnight. I was worried about someone taking the spot we scouted out the day before. Around 2pm, we moved. No worries. The primo spot on the river was open. We’re the only ones here.

The site is fairly level. I had the slides out in no time and walked down to the boat ramp to pay the $10 fee. We have a million dollar view for 10 bucks!

Donna fixed a salad for lunch, then did some work on her laptop. She walked back to town a little after 4pm to check out another little shop she that was closed the day before.

I put the chairs out for cocktail hour. We sat outside, enjoyed adult beverages and watched the oyster dredging boats come in with their day’s haul.

I mentioned the Willapa Bay oysters in yesterday’s post. Willapa Bay is said to be the cleanest bay in the USA. This is primarily due to the work of the oystermen who work closely with various conservation groups and government agencies to maintain the water quality. The tidelands with oyster farms are actually owned by the oystermen. This gives them a vested interest in maintaining the quality of the tidelands.

The Willapa Bay estuary, where the fresh water from the Willapa River meets the salt water from the Pacific Ocean, creates an excellent habitat for oysters. Oysters are filter feeders. They siphon water and feed on miniscule algae in the water. They can strain 20 to 30 quarts of water per hour. This makes them very sensitive to water quality. If the water isn’t clean, the oysters will die off.

Pacific oysters were brought into Willapa Bay from Japan in 1928. The oyster larvae are started in what are called seed beds. They search out a hard substrate to settle on. Oftentimes, this is a bed of old oyster shells. At some point, they are moved to what are called grow-out beds. As oyster production in the US declined (especially in the east), the Pacific oysters in Willapa Bay flourished. Today, one in six oysters consumed in the USA come from Willapa Bay.

Raw oysters are a polarizing food. You either relish them as a treat or find them disgusting. There’s no middle ground. While we were enjoying happy hour, Donna served oyster shooters. The first one I tried was made in the style suggested by Bill Frahm (Donna’s cycling buddy back in Michigan). The oyster was in a shot glass with vodka, tomato juice and Tobasco. I drank the elixir and the oyster slid right down. It wasn’t a favorite for me. The second one I tried was a larger oyster with Donna’s homemade salsa verde. I had to chew it. That settled it. I’m not a raw oyster fan. It seemed like I was drinking from a tide pool.

We’ve had a blast here in South Bend. I’m sure we will find ourselves here again. Today, we’ll travel south along the eastern shore of Willapa Bay, then east to Kelso and on to the Fairview RV Park in Portland, Oregon.