I am currently sitting in a campground in a Redwood Forest trying to catch up with my ramblings. The day before we left Portland I put on a presentation at the design agency (eROI) where my son works. I rambled on for about an hour and a half speaking on the subject of advertising, creativity and motion design. If you know me, then you know an hour and a half is just warming up...but I apparently got some good reviews. Truth is I had a ball. I love young bright minds and this group fit the bill nicely. Must have been an audience of about 25 or 30 people, all creatives, they seemed interested, mostly, and I did get some good questions at the end. Thanks Jason, I am flattered you asked your old man to talk where you work, it could have gone poorly for you. . .
That was Wednesday afternoon, in the evening Jason came out to the RV park and brought the package which had arrived from Leisure Travel Vans, and within an hour or so, I had the window installed, the door gas shock piston thingie replaced and the outside refrigerator grille painted and installed. A very productive time, thanks for the help Jay.
We all went out to dinner at a very nice restaurant over in Vancouver, Washington which was right on the banks of the Columbia River. The food was great and the company was better. We went back to the Rv park and sadly said our good byes to Jason and Kate. Our hearts are broken, it is always so very hard to say good bye. I had a fitful night of sleep as it is much quieter with out Benny and saying our good byes was tough, but plans had been made and we always move forward. The six Am alarm sounded (not really as we were both awake) and we started making preparations for getting on the road. The holding tanks were emptied, water put onboard, electric and water connections severed and cords and hoses returned neatly to their proper places. Chairs and tables stowed, cabinets latched, everything the needed to be set was set and finally the leveling chocks were removed and precisely at seven am we rolled out of the park. We made one quick stop for fuel and coffee and started rolling south on highway 5 toward California. Morning traffic in Portland was heavy but no big snags or traffic jams and we just rolled through.
And kept rolling down through Salem and south. We enjoyed good conversation and listened some more to our audio books and were fascinated by the scenery. Just south of Eugene we got on to route 38 and headed for the renowned US 101 - the Pacific Coast Highway of so many tales. We had been looking forward to this stretch of road and it did not disappoint. We passed through rolling hills, farm land, along side of rivers and wonderful views of distant mountains. We stopped and watched a herd of Elk feed along a stream and we even stopped for ice cream. By afternoon the Pacific Ocean became the dominant scenery on the passenger side and what amazing views we had. Sea stacks, so many sea stacks and the forest was changing as well. We stopped at the Coquille River Lighthouse in Brandon, Oregon and played on the beach. Little Harper ran free on the beach, she ran and ran and ran. This is what we call zoom-zoom dog... She ran in and out of the water, not too deep but in and out. She played with a jellyfish in a tidal pool and climbed over the many logs along the beach. We had a great time there and made lunch back in the Doodle before driving further down the coast.
We arrived in Gold Beach around five in the evening and headed for an RV park, got checked in. Where we set up our camp was about 50 yard from the water, another awesome beach. We let the zoom-zoom dog off her leash and she ran and ran some more. Then, a very nice lady named Sandi came along with her little dog named Domino and Harper suddenly had a new best friend. They played and rolled in the sand and wrestled each other and had a genuine good time, on the beach of the Pacific in Oregon. How cool is that.
Today we were up an moving in good time, not much dilly dally but no rush either. Carol wanted to stop at the Myrtle wood shop she had spotted along the 101 there in Gold Beach. I found out that they opened at nine, so we were that at nine. I figured it was a waste of time but if Carol wants to look at myrtle wood who am I to argue. We we were there over an hour I think. Mike the owner was just the nicest guy and being a woodworker he and I sure had a lot to chat about and soon enough we were back in the workshop and I was drooling over all of his lathes and tools, and the wood was oh so beautiful. He had a kiln full of drying bowl blanks, huge slabs of myrtle wood and walnut and well it was wood worker heaven. I bought a few small pieces and will be doing some spoon carving soon. Just costal make sure my hospitalization is all paid up, I always bleed when I carve. Oddly enough attached to the woodworking shop was a bakery! My other favorite thing. Carol hit it off well with the baker and purchased some wonderful bread for lunch.Once we left Gold Beach the coast became a storybook coast - the views are beyond description. The first two hours of todays drive we drove exactly 15 miles...you just gotta stop at every overlook.
Some we hiked a bit, some we just stopped and gawked and took pictures. This is an awesome road and living up to it's reputation. In Brookings we took on fuel again and figured we have been averaging 17 MPG - I am very pleased with that. Right after Brookings we crossed into California and had a fruit inspection, but all we had was bananas and apparently it is OK to enter California with bananas So here we are in California.
In Eureka we took on fuel again $4.09 per gallon - we had been paying $3.20ish in Oregon and as little as $2.60 before Oregon so paying over four dollars seems a bit unreasonable but we need fuel. Our mileage had increased to just under 18, like 17.85 MPG, happier still. While fueling back in Brooking I chatted with the old guy pumping fuel (they don't let you pump your own in Oregon - you can buy pot just about anywhere but you can't pump your own fuel) - anyway, the old guy said we have to drive the Avenue of the Giants, a route through the redwoods. And that is where we are now in a campground in the redwoods, and loving it.
It is now late and my wifi connection os making thing run poorly so I am gonna sign off for now and try to load up some pix and likely they won’t have captions but are from our travels the last couple of days.
