Long Beach, WA

Today is Boots’ birthday. We were at the Ilwaco, WA Saturday Market and Boots was in a Porta-Potty when her daughter called to sing “Happy Birthday” to her. Boots response was that she didn’t think anyone had previously sung HB to her while she was in a Porta-Potty. Then the guy in the next Porta-Potty began singing HB to her, too.

Stores:
Beauty at the Beach – Hair salon
Wild hair – another Hair salon
Tech Know – Computer Services

Long Beach, WA

Lately, Boots has backed the Rig into our spaces when we aren’t fortunate enough to have a pull-through. With Ruthi’s mono-vision contact lenses, depth perception is lacking. Being able to distinguish distances between the rig and obstacles like trees, electric boxes, sewer caps and fresh water can be very important in smaller/older tighter spaces. But this time, Ruthi decided to be the backer-upper. The spaces in this park are at right angles to the roadway and on the blind side of the driver (i.e., the space is on the right side of the road and the driver is on the left side of the truck). These are the most challenging sites to back into.

But, Ruthi got very lucky there was an open space directly across from our designated home for the next 4 days. She carefully pulled into that one and continued through to get aligned straight. Then she backed it up into the space 1, 2, 3. We did a little adjustment with a second backing but it was basically right on. Ruthi’s comment to Boots was how come it’s so hard when you do it and I can get it on the first try? To quote an old internet joke: “That’s when the fight started”

This RV Park (Pacific Holiday RV Resort) is the closest we have been to the beach. At the end of the park there is a pathway out to the beach. The beach is huge and flat. The waves are not as rough as they have been in most places in Oregon. And, of course, Karma is in heaven!!!

Long Beach, WA

Our drive up from Neskowin, OR to Long Beach, WA was on US 101; as that is the only road along the coast for all of these towns. The road was again hilly and curvy with a few interesting sections. There was major road work around Tillamook, OR for a few miles. Not long but very scary at one point. Both lanes were narrowed with abrupt edges as they were resurfacing/repaving 1 lane in the middle. So, there was a guide car to lead us up the single lane in a particular section. The real scare came when there was a cross over in the middle of the construction.

The crossover was soft gravel at right angles to either of the paved sections. Remember we are towing 31 feet which makes turns, especially right angles, a bit more difficult than with a car. We slowed down and kept looking at the flagman. He kept saying come on – no problem. We slowly carefully negotiated the crossover and then had time to think about how many semis must have had to do the same maneuver that we had. I am glad we didn’t know ahead of time – sometimes that is scarier than the actual event.

The next interesting road event was as we approached Astoria, OR and the bridge over the Columbia River. Since we were so near the coast we really were crossing the mouth of the river – very wide. But that wasn’t the scary part. As we drove through Astoria, we saw a bridge way up high but at 90 degrees to our road. We saw car/trucks cross but couldn’t predict how to get there. Then we found out!!! We drove up a spiral road – up and up and up to the top of the bridge. Then we started down the bridge and roadway across the Columbia River to Washington forever. Or, at least that’s how it felt.

Neskowin, OR

There are quite a few Alpenlite 5th wheel rigs in this park. We thought maybe there was a convention and we weren’t invited but then we remembered that the factory was in Washington state before it closed. That would explain the abundance of Alpenlites in the Northwest parks.

Neskowin, OR

Went to Pacific City beaches today. Karma met another Labradoodle that looks almost exactly like her. The interloper was about the same height, black with a bit more curl to her hair, and same age as Karma. Too bad they were coming as we were going. Beach access is straight up a dune and then straight down. So, once a day is enough for these 2 mature women.

Neskowin, OR

Some more CRAZY store names:
Art 101 – art supplies
Human Bean – coffee shop
Brewed Awakening – coffee shop
Greasy Spoon Café – really that was the name
Shark Bites – sea food café
Humble Pie Pizzeria – pizza place
LunaC Fish House- restaurant

Neskowin, OR

On our way out of Licoln City, OR to the camp ground there was a sign about crossing the 45th Parallel North and that it is halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. With further research on Wikipedia (if this entry is correct), it seems the 10 miles to the RV Park puts us exactly on the halfway point because the Earth is oblate, that is, it bulges at the equator and is flattened at the poles.

So, we are truely halfway between no where!!!

Neskowin, OR

We thought Gold Beach was a small coastal tourist site – 2,000 residents, lots of beach, a few cafes open for breakfast/lunch and a couple of higher-end dinner places. Mostly it was as wide as Route 101 for 2 miles.

Well, Neskowin, the name itself, is longer than the “town.” Or, do we say “place”? There’s a post office but no one is sure if it’s still open or not. The 150 site RV park were camped in is bigger than the whole of Neskowin. It does have an ice cream shop and beach side condos - what else does it need??? The ?streets? are paved narrow paths. You need to constantly look for on-coming traffic because there is no passing space. With the hills and vegetation, it was difficult to see whether the path was available or not. On one occasion, the truck coming towards us had to back up and another time the vehicle stapped and let us slide by them. Overall there is little traffic as there is little to see!

Neskowin, OR

The drive up from the Southern Oregon coast (coast is divided into 3 parts: Southern, central, Northern) on Route 101 was very curvy and up-and-down the hills along the coast. Beautiful views but scary roads. Rt 101 is 2 lanes with the occasional passing lane for any uphill stretches on your side. Beach access was as varied from rock climbing to short sandy walk.

The road was classified (for us) as mountainous, so Boots drove most of the way. When it finally straighten out (in the broadest terms), we weren’t sure if it was going to keep on that way or not. Remember, Ruthi drives the cities (like crazy interstate 205 in Portland, OR), Boots drives the mountains and Karma runs the beaches.

Gold Beach, OR

Immigration Article in The Oregonian

As we travel, we are reading the local (or near local) major papers. We know, we know the “current” news is on-line but we do like the “feel” of hardcopy and besides the comics and crosswords are there. We don’t know the political bent of the various papers we have been reading (Union-Tribune in San Diego, Sacramento Bee in Central California, San Francisco Chronicle, and now The Oregonian) but are being exposed to other perspectives.

We want to point you to an article on our national immigration challenge that we thought provided succinct clarity to the issue with some valid facts backing it up. Hope you find it informative. It might have appeared in other publications like the Chicago Tribune or the New York Times, we don’t know.

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/07/myths_muddle_the_immigration_m.html

Gold Beach, OR

Oregon has on the books a law requiring that an attendant pump gas/diesel for you. You are not allowed to self-pump. Thereby keeping jobs (predominately filled by males) filled. The caveat here is that they do not do the windows or check the oil just fill the tank. So, it's not totally like the 1950's.

Within the grocery stores, self-scan/checkout are available everywhere; thus putting out of work the checkers (predominately female). Hmm

Gold Beach, OR

We got into Oregon via US Route 101. That's really the only way up and down the coast line. To accommodate the slower traffic on hills, the road moves from a 2-lane two-way to a 3-lane two-way road, with the extra lane on the uphill side of the road. When the extra lane is going the oppisite direction, we have noticed a different highway sign about passing - "Yield Center Lane to Uphill Traffic". With a broken yellow line on your side this means you can pass if there aren't any vehicles in the second lane of oncoming traffic.

We haven't tried it nor have we seen anyone else do it. Sound/looks too scary for us.

Gold Beach, OR

Some more interesting store names:
"Honest Engine" for an auto repair shop
"Remember That" for an antique store.

We went up to Port Orford yesterday. While we knew it was smaller it was hard to imagine smaller that Gold Beach. But it was - a short strip of route 101 with a few resturants and tourists stops. We went beyond to see the light house at Camp Blanco State Park. Again, a nice coastal drive with some fog.

Gold Beach, OR

We keep forgetting to talk about “manners” on the road. When we are pulling the rig, we are about 45ft long and have different speed limits than regular cars and pickups. Or, at least that’s true in California. We drive slower to accommodate the extra length, breadth and height. Anyway, we try to be courteous to other drivers and if need be on 2-lane roads we will pullover at pullouts or scenic overlooks to allow the parade behind us to get around and on their way. Across the country, we have had a rare “beep” of thank you for getting out of the way. BUT, in Northern California and Southern Oregon, we are getting pretty regular thank-you’s. Also, there are a lot more hitch hikers here than we have seen throughout our 2 years around the states.