Monday, June 15 (continued)
It’s a windy, foggy, cold day as the crew and I motor south along the Oregon Coast on Highway 101.
Even the gulls are hunkered down.
I stop at waysides and leave Bridget and Reggie in the Perfect Tow Vehicle while I watch waves pounding against rocks. Fascinating to watch — too foggy for photos of the sea.
At Newport I shop at Safeway. Fruits and vegetables from Washington, California, and Oregon are bountiful. I buy lots!
At Waldport I buy regular gas ($3.05 a gallon).
The manager of the station pumps the gas, cleans my windshield, and offers to check the oil. I’m happy to have her do so, as I’m thinking it’s time for an oil change.
“It looks good!” she announces while showing me the clean oil on a paper towel.
Before leaving Waldport to go inland, I stop along Alsea Bay to check this blog.
We return to Blackberry Campground
We follow Route 34 along the Alsea River to Blackberry. Since I’ve already introduced this camp, I won’t repeat all that. I do want to share photos of campsites for those of you who would like to use this campground for an inexpensive base ($16 regular/$8 senior pass) for exploring the coast.
I back us into the same site we had last week.
Other than the camp host, the campground is empty.
I have a new way to walk the crew.
I discovered that putting Reggie on one end of the 20-foot tether and Bridget on the other end, the crew can wander and Reggie can run around while we go along.
I hold the line in the middle, of course, and let either one pull it through my grip as they wish.
See how pretty the sites are?
And they’re level, too. The photo below shows a handy water spigot.
“Well, guys. Maybe tomorrow the weather will be better and we’ll go to the beach. ”
Later in the evening . . .
A car camper and a Class C enter the campground. They hit the road the next morning shortly before we leave the Best Little Trailer and ride the Perfect Tow Vehicle to the beach!
Tuesday, June 16
There’s something about Waldport that appeals to me. Even its welcome sign is appealing. It’s well-designed, descriptive, brightly colored, and the slogan fits.
We cross the Alsea Bridge (shown on the sign above) to go up 101 to Driftwood Beach.
This is the same beach we went to before.
I like it!
“Hey, Reggie! Wanna’ go for a run on the beach?”
Pay no mind to Bridget’s sad, dejected, persecuted look in the photo above. When I put the camera aside and let her and Reggie out of the PTV, the glum face disappears.
Meeting a handsome black dude on the walk to the beach helps brighten her outlook, too.
Today is slightly cooler than the last time we were here. Bridget happily accompanies me as I walk over the dunes toward the water.
Reggie cuts loose!
Here’s a close-up of the action! Note the aerodynamic position of the ear flaps!
I attempt to catch Bridget in a photo as she careful steps across the sand. She sees the camera and immediately plops her butt down.
A few tense moments!
After we’ve played for a while, a young couple with that black dog walk toward the path leading up to the parking lot. Reggie sees them and tears off across the sand. Unwittingly the couple herds Reggie toward the path. Dang it! He goes up that path, no tellin’ what will happen!
I don’t run after him because I’ve learned that he takes that as a cue to keep going further. I wait. At the last moment the young man and woman realize what they’re causing Reggie to do. They stop, hold back their dog, and Reggie runs over to them.
While he’s occupied with them, I come along and scoop him up!
We play some more out by the surf. I put my camera in its case due to the wind. I notice the crew tiring. The cool wind and exercise catches up with even the most energetic of pups!
“Wasn’t that fun! Let’s go home and have some lunch.”
On our return to camp at Blackberry, we again cross the Alsea Bridge.
I park at a viewpoint and take the photo above.
Well, we’ve had our Oregon coast experience for this year. Tomorrow we’ll go across the Willamette Valley to a new camp!
Wednesday, June 17
A long day of driving! Not that we cover a great distance.
Route 34 is slow-going. It’s a two-lane road along the river (which is down there somewhere beyond where the road’s shoulder would be if the road had a shoulder).
Driving this road feels like maneuvering a bumper car at the fair. Turn to the left, turn to the right, yank it back to the left, zip around to the right without pause for mile after mile.
I drive 40-45 mph all the way to Philomath. Fortunately only one car behind us and he makes a suicide pass on a curve without either of us or anyone else buying the farm.
If you like to follow on a map . . .
We go from Philomath to Corvallis, due east to Interstate 5, then due north on the interstate past Albany. (Did you know that Benchmark atlases show the interstate’s exit numbers?) We take exit 238 to Jefferson. I miss the turn I want at Jefferson and drive six miles before I realize it.
“Interstate 5? What the hell are we doing back at Interstate 5?”
Apparently I drove to the next ramp north of where we exited. Sheesh.
I backtrack to Jefferson.
I take the turn I originally wanted and drive to Scio where I make another error. (I’m on a roll!) I want to continue eastward. Instead I lose my sense of direction and end up going northeast to Stayton. This is agricultural country. Lots of fields of grain, some corn, soybeans.
I’m not interested in crops or scenery today.
This drive is beginning to wear on me. I take Route 22 southeast. We drive along the North Santiam River. Given that I’ve made two route errors today, more than I’ve made in years, I stop and ask a person at a Napa auto parts store if I am indeed in the village of Wehama and if indeed the campground is not far from here.
Armed with specific directions and hopeful I’ll follow them correctly, we complete the final leg of today’s journey and arrive at . . .
Fishermen’s Bend Campground!
What a find! It’s an exceptionally fine, BLM campground.
Get this — All the sites have electric hook-up and most have water, sewer, and kitchen waste drains. Trash bins, picnic table, and fire ring, of course. Plus a river walk and, good God in heaven, there are SHOWERS!
And . . . hold onto your hat . . . you get all that for only $8 a night if you possess a discount pass! (Without a senior or veteran’s discount pass, it’s $16 a night.)
Oh, and also I pick up an internet signal!
Eight dollars a night for full hook-ups and along the magnificent North Santiam River!
More about our camp at Fishermen’s Bend in the next post . . .
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Driftwood Beach, Oregon
