Jim Hamstra: September 2019

Summer 2019, Astoria Oregon

To get a change in summer weather we headed to Astoria Oregon. On our way down the coast we had stopped by there last summer to see a gallery where I had some prints exhibited in a couple shows and really liked the town. Astoria was founded in 1811 and is the oldest town in Oregon and the first American settlement west of the Rockies. The downtown along the wharf is flat but a couple blocks away from the river and it goes uphill. We found a 3 bedroom 2 bath house to rent only four blocks up from town. Yes up, once you leave the downtown you are going up a steep hill but it makes for great views. The houses in the neighborhood are around 150 years old but many like ours have been recently completely renovated.

Even this far from the river you can hear the sea lions barking and all the neighborhoods have a lot of deer. At one time we had 9 in our back yard and it wasn't unusual to see several playing in the lot across the street. Even at the river you could see deer tracks in the sand if the tide was out. One morning while photographing at the rivers edge at around 10:30 in the morning I saw three deer, a mother and two fawns, walking among the pilings at low tide and they had to cross 4 lanes of traffic to get there. Later I saw them walk back up hill fortunately waiting for traffic to stop before crossing back over the 4 lanes.

Dining and TV Room

Living Room

Fawn in Backyard

View from Living Room

Tree in Nearby Park

Deer at Rivers Edge

Down the Coast

Across the River

and two fawns, walking among the pilings at low tide and they had to cross 4 lanes of traffic to get there. Later I saw them walk back up hill fortunately waiting for traffic to stop before crossing back over the 4 lanes.

Astoria River Walk

The Astoria River Walk follows the old railroad along the Astoria Wharf for 6.4 miles. It passes Museums, Restaurants, Breweries, Coastguard and Pilot boat docks, and ends at the 4 mile bridge that crosses the Columbia River near its mouth. Yes, the bridge is over 4 miles long and tall enough on the south end for freighters to go under. The railroad tracks are still used by a 1913 trolley that you can ride for $1 to avoid walking.

Great restaurants such as the Baked Alaskan that has the best fish and chips and a great over the water view. There is also one of the largest candy and ice-cream store I have ever been in.

Some of the old buildings have murals on the walls and all the old pilings show where canneries, wharfs, and docks were built over the water. The channel for the ocean going freighters is on the Astoria side of the river and usually there are several anchored there. You can always tell if the tide is going in or out by the the direction the freighters have swung at anchor.

Freighter with Cargo of Windmill Blades

4 Mile Bridge

Monday Morning

After the Rain, Sun Reflection

3 Shot Panorama

USS Plainview

Across the Columbia river Astoria the USS Plainview has been run aground. The ship was the first hydrofoil built for the navy. A 220 foot long aluminum hydrofoil built in 1964 and decommissioned in 1978 it had 2 diesel engines and 2 14,000 HP engines that were also used on the F-4 Phantom.

It was sent to the scrapyard and bought by someone that wanted to turn it into a fishing boat. Now it sits by the shore next to a large crane and some other machinery which is covered by vegetation which also covers two travel trailers. It may be that someone was going to try to scrap the over 500,000 pounds of aluminum that remains. It has been awhile as there are ferns growing on the crane.

At High Tide

At Low Tide

Crane

Another Trailer in Vegetation Behind

Trip Home

Two 11 hour days got us home. We avoided freeways and from Portland to Las Vegas took back roads with great scenery and little traffic. Stayed overnight in Winnemucca, Nevada, the only real town between Portland and Las Vegas. Somewhere in the high desert of Nevada found a place where shipping containers come to die. Hundreds of shipping containers.

About 100 miles north of Las Vegas our gas stop was the Area 51 Alien Center. Not just a gas station but a gas station, grocery store, liquor store, T-shirt shop, restaurant, bar, and brothel.

Lots of traffic when we hit Las Vegas but glad to be able to eat at one our favorite restaurants and only 21/2 hours to home.

Floating on Columbia River Restaurant Portland

Across River From Restaurant

Shipping containers, Panorama

Van's Aircraft

The last time I was at Van's Aircraft was in 1984. At that time I had no interest in building another airplane. Van took me for a ride in a RV-6 and that was the closest a civilian can get to flying a fighter plane you can build yourself. Fast, aerobatic, and great forward visibility out of the canopy and I was hooked.

A few years later we had one built. Reese and I both wanted one but fortunately decided to build only one. Built it in a friends hanger in California by working many three day weekends. All flush riveted aluminum, am told over 17,000 rivets, then put a new Lycoming engine and its been flying ever since.

Van's factory had really grown over the years and now has over 75 employees and while our plane was serial number 45 they now have over 10,000 flying and many more under construction. The factory tour leader explained that when we bought ours you could buy the plans and materials like we did but there has been some big changes over the years. A few years later came kits with precut aluminum panels then came CNC machines and the kits came with all the rivet holes punched. Their punching is so accurate that you can take a part today and it will be a perfect match for one from ten years ago. The latest are kits that are partially riveted including the forward half of the fuselage and the wing panel. The center section of the wing spar is installed and lines up with the wing panels perfectly. Wow, it would be fun to build another one. There are now many models available including a 4 place.

I remember talking to Van about sailplanes, a powered sailplane, as he liked to fly sailplanes and they still are my favorite way to fly. He was working on one as a personal project. The only room we couldn't see during the factory tour was the prototype room but was told was no sailplane project. Come on Van, how about a powered sailplane. Maybe for the best, he would get me hooked again and a proper sailplane would need a 50-60 foot wing plus a complex power system.