5/18/2009 Water, Water, EVERYWHERE

Note: If you have already read this post please take note that I have added something to the bottom of it.

We've spent the last thirty nine days in California. It's time to move on. We'll miss California with her nice weather (for the most part) her spectacular scenery and her super nice people. What I won't miss is the anxiety I had every day that the BIG ONE was going to happen. Yes, I worried about that everyday. If Bob walked too hard across the floor of the rig my first thought was EARTHQUAKE! I won't have to worry about that anymore. Hmmm...does Oregon and Washington have earthquakes? Don't tell me! Please don't tell me! I don't want to know!

So we pulled out of the great campground on the river at exactly nine o'clock this morning. Shouldn't be a bad run, just 253 miles. It should take us no more than five and half hours tops. Remember, we're towing 35 feet of 5th wheel and we don't go zero to fifty five in mere seconds. And we don't go over 55 since that is the speed limit here in California. So for all of you saying, "Geez, I could do that in four hours or less" please know that if we were in a car, we would too. When you tow your home behind you it does tend to slow you down a little bit, but really, that's a good thing because we actually SEE things as we go down the road, it isn't all just a blur.

So we pulled out at nine, like I said, with visions of setting up in Oregon around 2:30. Do you get the feeling it didn't go as planned? Good intuition on your part.

It was a tad foggy this morning.

Such poor visibility kept us at around 25 - 30 miles an hour. Can you see our travel time lengthening already?

Now it wasn't like this the whole way, we did hit clear patches here and there and we always had warning when the thick as pea soup denser fog was just around the corner.

The air cleared so that I could get a good shot of the Welcome to Oregon sign but if you look behind it you can see the fog is here too. We were only about 35-40 miles or so from the California/Oregon border which I hadn't realized we were so close to.

We were surrounded by ponds, lakes, rivers and of course the Pacific Ocean the whole ride today, hence, the title. (Ooh LaVon, I think "hence" is my new favorite word and girlfriend, I know of which I speak thereof.) (Oh, ok, I was really pushing with that last part, sorry.)

Anyway, before I got sidetracked with my usage of vocabulary, I was saying we were surrounded by water.

Lakes on my side and the ocean on Bob's. Bob ALWAYS gets the good stuff on his side!

We drove on Route 101 all the way up the coast to Newport, Oregon. The farther north we went the less dense the fog.

Not a bad drive,eh? At one point Bob was driving kind of slow because of traffic and had a chance to look at the scenery along with me. We saw a WHALE! Our first whale! Of course there was no way to even try to get a picture. Whales don't pose for you and wouldn't stay on top of the water long enough for me to get the camera up, find it in this sea of blue, focus and snap a picture.

Are you just drooling at the scenery we got to enjoy as we drove the coast? We are so lucky to be able to do this! Oh, I'm sorry to those of you who are reading this at lunchtime at your desk, I don't mean to gloat. Take a moment now and look out your window at a tree or something, maybe you'll feel better.

Oh man, I am LOVIN' this!

This is driftwood left in a field after the river evidently overflowed its banks.

Can you guess what this is? I'm talking about the big pile of stuff. You, New Jersey, you've got your hand raised, what do you think it is? Nope, not sand. Michigan, you have a guess? Sorry, its not stone. Any other guesses? Leave me a comment with yours.

We traveled on this really old bridge over yet another river.

I'm fascinated with bridges, I must have been a bridge builder...or bridge painter ... in a past life. (I don't believe in past lives but for the sake of the blog it sounded good)

I didn't know that Oregon had big sand dunes. We passed lots of business that rented dune buggies, sold sand boards and the such. These dunes are much bigger in person than they show in this picture.

Oregon must be dealing with draught conditions just like California. There were lots of lakes and rivers that seemed to me to be low.

This building caught Bob's eye right away. The eagle painted in the center of the flag made it even more special.

Can you imagine working here everyday???? Or maybe they even live there!

Now this next picture represents a short amount of time where our we held our breaths!

As long as no one was coming the other way and we could stay in the center we would be fine. BUT...if someone else entered from the opposite direction we could have some trouble on our hands. We were good until we got halfway through. A car came from the north and we had to move over into our lane as close as we could to the center line and we just prayed we didn't hear our air conditioner on the roof scraping the ceiling of the tunnel. It was that close! We only had two inches to spare! Not a good feeling and we sighed a great sigh of relief when we cleared that tunnel. Whew!

Not even a mile after the tunnel, just long enough for our hearts to get back to a normal rhythm and our palms to dry we saw this and the fog was starting and we're driving against people who KNOW this road and think nothing of taking it at 40 miles per hour. This was definitely a white knuckle, where's MY brake, turn.

Since we do carry our house with us, and when nature calls so to speak, we just have to pull over wherever we can find a spot big enough to, uh, er, take care of business. Well, nature called and I took the opportunity to get out and take a picture. Bob wanted to get out a fishing pole so badly!

Some going down the road pictures. Oh geez, this is such a ROUGH life! Oops, sorry, gloating again. I just can't help it!

You know, I haven't said this about many places we've been so far, but I could LIVE here.

At least I thought that until I saw THIS! Ah, thanks, but no thanks.

We FINALLY pulled into our destination this trip. Newport, Oregon. We're staying here two nights and taking advantage of my Elks membership by staying at the local Elks Lodge.

Around back there are 10 RV spaces that offer electricity, water and cable TV. Yes, we're in a parking lot but for a short stay, we aren't even unhooking the truck, it will do just fine. For twelve bucks a night,,,,it will do just fine!

After getting set up we went into the lodge and sat at the bar talking with the Exalted Ruler who happened to have bartending duty this day. Its a large building, I'll get inside pictures tomorrow, but unfortunately they don't have a very active membership. With the fishing and lumber industries that built this area up being all but dead, new members aren't coming in and the older ones have lost interest or are dying off. Its really a shame because they have a very nice facility.

I changed my mind about wanting to live here. The average temperature here is sixty degrees,,,,year-round. Too cool for me in the summer. If I'm going to be this close to the beach I'll take my sunny and 85 thank you very much.

We talked with Don, the ER, for about an hour or so when another couple came in and we found out that they are new RV'ers. They aren't full timers like we are but are extended travelers and are just learning the ropes. We shared our list of web sites that we use for information with them to help them learn the tricks of the trade.

I got an email tonight from our new friends that we met in Klamath on the Coastal Road. They have decided that they too are going to Alaska so we are making plans to meet up with them along the way. Pauline wants to write a blog too so I'm going to help get her set up when we do meet again. They had been working at a workamping job but it wasn't anything like promised so they left it. Since they were at loose ends anyway, and Alaska was in their plans for next year, they decided,,,why not? That is what's so nice about this lifestyle, you can change directions in a moment's notice.

I'm really sorry that we aren't going to be spending more time in Oregon and seeing more of it than this parking lot behind the Elks and the coastline as we travel north to Washington. Time is of the essence for us since we have reservations and we have to think about the three day holiday weekend coming up soon. We want to be in a staying put mode when Memorial Day weekend arrives and we want to be in the Navy base on the ocean while in that mode and during that traffic busy weekend. So these circumstances give us all the more reason to come back here again one day. Its such a beautiful place that is definitely one that we want to re-visit.

Since we didn't leave the Lodge until just after six we got online and found a pizza parlor that would deliver. Pizza for dinner, something we haven't had in awhile. It was pretty good too. Oh yeah, we're back in a sales tax free state! We do miss that about our home state, Delaware.

Oh yeah, I wanted to give a big ol' THANK YOU. I don't know if you read the comments people leave or not but a day or so ago a reader left a comment that really gave me a warm feeling all over and put a huge smile on my face.

Our Quail Run friend, Kathy, The Lush (inside joke folks) was the one who turned the counter to 59,000 hits. Randy Furco, who happened upon this blog by surfing Blogger.com left a comment asking how did I get so many hits. Now long time reader, Lou, left a comment in answer to Randy's question. He wrote...

"Randy, keep reading and you will be hooked like the rest of us."

Lou, THANK YOU! Your comment made me feel so darn good. I started this blog so that our family and friends could follow along on our adventure and somehow, some way we have gathered quite a faithful following. I've told you all once and I'll tell you again and again that I appreciate you reading me. I'm glad you get an occaisional chuckle or a smile, I'm glad you appreciate my attempt at photography and I'm happy that you appreciate the effort I put into this. I appreciate all of YOU!

Now if you really want to show your appreciation for my efforts you could ... ahem ... click on the sidebar where it says Vote for this Blog. (Shameful request for your votes)

Type at ya later!