Sunday (Sep 11)
Damn the trees are thick around here. The only little patch of glare tells me it’s sunny, and staring upward I see bright blue, but it sure feels gloomy.
It is a beautiful, sunny Sunday. Very nice in the piney woods, but once I get going I have breakfast issues. First town I get to is Detroit, the only civilization on Detroit Lake. I have been through here before, and I have eaten at the diner/bar on the main drag. and was not impressed. The parking lot is very full and busy looking, so I make the judgement call to keep going. Looking back, maybe I shoulda just waited, but I didn’t. After that all the restaurants are either closed or look pretty awful as I drive past.
I’m in a low blood sugar fog by now, driving and getting frustrated. I am following the north side of the Santiam River, and there just ain’t much up here. Eventually it occurs to me that my plan is to cut back south to make up for yesterday’s detour north because the bridge was out.
At the town of Mehama is a bridge over the Santiam, and according to Yelp there is a five-star place called Rosie’s in Lyons the next town down, if I can get there before closing time. In my addled condition I miss Rosie’s but end up at a bar on the same block. It ain’t no five-star joint, just a run-down locals bar, but turns out to have five star food! Unlikely as it seemed, it also had wifi! … and the Giants-Cowboys game on TV. So I lucked out very well. It’s a fresh football season, so this was a nice reminder of how little I care about football anymore.
With my food, coffee, and wifi needs met, I hit the road again. Follow OR 226 as it winds south and west through a succession of little Oregon towns until I join up again with good ole US 20, maybe three hours and 120 miles later than I would have been without the detour.
On 20, cross I-5, through Albany, then skirt the southern edge Corvallis, home of Oregon State Univ, I love university towns, but this one was not calling me today. Then at the beautifully named town of Philomath I leave 20 and take up with Route 34, a seriously curvy little road that will take me to the beach at Waldport. I’ll bet I’ve driven farther and pressed harder these three days and two nights since Boise that at any time on this trip. Why? Because I got it into my head that I wanted to spend a few nights on the Oregon Coast before Eureka.
I don’t remember much about this drive, except that I had to drive very slow around the curves, and the Alsea River, was very pretty. Eventually I crossed from the north side of the river to the south side, then soon after it widened into a tidal estuary and suddenly I was in the backside of the little town of Waldport. I’ve driven through Waldport many, many times, gotten a sandwich and/or coffee, but I had never left the coast highway. It’s a real inviting place back here among the boats and the dockside houses!
I take a left on good ole US 101 and in a very few miles find myself at:
WHUFU page for: Tillicum Beach Campground
perfect spot to camp for the beach. On a small bluff, so you're camping off the sand in the pines, but the beach is only about 30 steps down the hill. I will come back here.
tonight:
Quite crowded on a Sunday night in September. Still pretty awesome though. Site 2 is right across from the camp hosts, at the busiest place in this busy campground, but it's level and reasonably private and I'm glad to be here.
There weren’t many sites left, but all it takes is one, and I got one! Everybody else has been here at least all weekend, and maybe all week. It feels like I’ve walked into the middle of a party where everybody else knows each other.
An hour ago I was feeling stressed and wondering why I was doing all this driving. Well, this is why, to be in the trees 30 yards from the beach with the onshore breeze cooling me off!
I went to the beach twice – late afternoon till I got cold, then back to the van to eat and drink, then returned and froze my tootsies off staying till the last bits of color left the sky and the water.
Monday
Coastal humidity sure is good for sleeping! I feel pretty darned good!
12:30, off to Yachats and that familiar coffee place – the Green Salmon. The staff is always so grumpy there – not a happy vibe. I think it’s the overly entitled citizens of Yachats. Yet I still stop here pretty much every time I pass through, not many choices …
Must stop spots are thick on this part of the coast. Ten minutes after Yachats I am scampering around the rocks at Cape Perpetua for an hour – fun! Looking through my photos I seem not to have taken my phone or camera on my scamper, because I have not a single picture to show for it. Weird. This link will get you to pictures I took on previous trips. It hasn’t changed much :)
From there to Florence 101 passes through the Siuslaw National Forest. The first part of the drive is more rocky coastline and dramatic bluffs, but soon after Sea Lion Caves is the final dramatic vista southwards (another must stop place) and the road curves inland and down to near sea level to enter the Oregon Dunes Area. The freshwater lakes in the middle of the sand dunes a half mile from the ocean seem odd at first, but there are about 70 miles worth of them.
Back on 101, across the very cool bridge over the Siuslaw River, and back into the Oregon Dunes – wind-swept pine trees, sand, and little lakes. There are many interesting places in this stretch of coast also, but not for me today. I pass through Reedsport, the anti-Florence in my own scorecard, then Winchester Bay which has become one of my recent favorite stops, but still I press on. I have only two more nights before I must be in Eureka to meet up with the family. I am aiming for the very southern bottom of the Oregon Dunes, for my new favorite spot:
WHUFU page for: Horsfall Beach Camping
Down Horsfall Road off of 101 are OHV camps and trails, equestrian camps and trails, day use areas, and general use camps and trails.
Wild Mare Camp - set up for camping with horses - was empty and very, very nice, but the mosquitoes were just brutal, so I moved to the OHV camping at the coast, where the breeze keeps the little buggers moving. Very pleasant here.
Just a parking lot with large camping-only RV sized slots on three sides and parking for the beach on the side next to the ocean.
I've stayed here three times now, and there's always a few OHV folks. Their pleasantness or rudeness and the amount of general hubbub varies greatly.
The general rules is that the warmer and nicer it is, the more constant and unending and annoying will be the sound of unmuffled small engines.
tonight:
Very handy place now that I know about it. I am on the other side of the parking lot this time (north instead of south). I should have a better angle for morning shade over here.
Love my parking lot! An endless beach is right over the sand dune, and I can stay here for a mere $10! The noisy OHVs are occasionally annoying, but usually they’re kinda cool. It’s just kids having fun, and the spot exists basically for them, so it’s hard to get too worked up about the noise.
Also, the viewing platform is nifty. It’s fun to walk up it, it’s fun to be on top of the waving dune grass, and the view is spectacular. I end up taking the same pictures again every time I walk up there because it’s so cool.
No water available and only portapotties, but … right at the beach! It’s been quite windy both times I’ve been there. Near the mouth of the mighty Coos Bay (largest bay between San Francisco and Seattle) as it is, I’ll bet it quite windy most of the time.
Tuesday
This morning I sit on the bench and watch the ocean for quite a while. Then one more walk up the viewing platform, and I’m outta here.
Horsfall is immediately north of the Coos Bay/North Beach urban area so there are a lot of breakfast options a short drive away in the morning. That said, it doesn’t really matter how many optins there are, because I always go to the same pllce, Smiling Dog Cafe located in the Toyota dealer showroom on 101 in Coos Bay. They have good food and free coffee(!). I find myself ordering the biscuits and gravy every time. It’s at such a good price point. I sit at one of their little round tables, soak up the wifi, surrounded by the good people of the Central Oregon Coast waiting for their Toyotas to get serviced or talking new car with a salesman. Pretty cool.
After that relaxing interlude, the rest of today is nothing but a long-ass drive, all of the bottom third of Oregon to just over the California border. I did not plan these last few days very well. My routine of a couple of hours of driving then stop early and enjoy life has gone completely out the window since Boise. Oregon is much longer that I remember. I power through a lot of nice little towns, cross a lot of scenic estuaries, cruise past a lot of scenic pullovers at the speed limit, to eventually end up at:
WHUFU page for: Lucky 7 Casino
This place is super user-friendly. There is an RV parking area at the back of the lot, and another across the road behind the reservation gas station. The second one is more level but seemed a little sketchy. I am going for the first. Glad to be here!
Wifi was dead for most of the evening, but when it came back it was pretty good. There are a couple of stations in the casino with free coffee and even a cappuccino machine!
You can hear the surf at night when the traffic is gone. The ocean is right across the highway, complete with a bench on the bluffs to watch sunset. Sweet little fountain with colored lights to entertain your inner stoner. Nice, friendly place.
tonight:
It's pretty busy here tonight, all the good spots on the edge of the parking area are taken, and there are even campers hanging out at the picnic tables. I park over in the regular lot and nobody bothers me.
i explore the neighborhood a little this time. Turns out the ocean is right at the end of the block rright across the highway. And it's a nice little loop walk through the tribal residential area, then up the hill and across the highway and back around to the back end of the casino.
I really like the Lucky 7 Casino. There is a beautiful ocean view right across the street, and a pretty nice walk through the neighborhood of the Smith River Indians. The bar is nice, and the bartender always does a good job of pretending she gives a shit for the couple of minutes she talks to you. Oh, and the fountain … I am such a huge fan of the fountain. I always end up standing and watching the water and the changing colored lights for a while.