Day 38 – Gig Harbor WA to Garibaldi OR
Washington, Washington, Washington, Washington, OREGON!
Our drive was mostly another shitty drive of twisty/hilly roads, tiny towns with a lot of stop lights, and a bunch of logging trucks. It’s the kind of drive/ride that can induce motion sickness. As a driver or a passenger, you don’t ever get the chance to just settle in. Does this count as a Pilates workout? After the drive, I felt like I just got off a boat.
We saw a funny sign on the route. It was for elk in the area, but someone had added a little man riding the elk like a cowboy.
We also saw a former Korean restaurant named Seoul Food and a Mexican place named Sol. If we find a shoe store named Sole, we win, right?
At least we got out of Washington and into Oregon. As a state, Washington has been the worst of them all I/we have ever visited. The humidity is non-stop. The city is awful with heat and crowds and traffic. The rural areas are all hugely redneck/racist. We liked Mt Rainier last year, and our friends really wanted to go, but another day of 4 hours in the car just wasn’t something they (or we) were up for.
We drove through Astoria where the only mention of The Goonies was that it was showing at a movie theater. womp womp.
Our campground is poorly labeled and confusing, and our dinner out was less than mediocre. But the views were none too shabby.
He took the drone out for a bit and got some neat clips of the little town.
Day 39 – hanging out
While we had contemplated the train as an activity, we all nixed it for the same reason. It goes along the shore; we could just drive and then stop/go at our schedule. We didn’t do that, either. He did get another cinematic-worthy shot with the drone, though.
We grabbed a little lunch at the campground’s dive bar. We ran a couple of small errands and then spent the afternoon sitting by their rig while three of us worked on stuff, and soon it was time for our respective “pre travel day” evenings.
It was nice to be a tad bit bored. After too many too short stays, these short ones with no agenda are a nice break we all needed.
Day 40 – Garibaldi to Florence
Another twisty, but very pretty, drive. This one was a little shorter, which also helped.
We did not stop at Tillamook. Their racist views make them a hard pass both in tourism and in the grocery store. #FuckBigots and #StopFuckingRepublicans
After we got set up, we just hung out. We spent the evening gaming with one of our friends: Cribbage, Exploding Kittens, Shoot the Moon, Dominoes.
Day 41 – Jasper fire, easy day
We awoke to the news that Jasper National Park was closed and engulfed in flames from the wildfires in Canada.
We wish everyone safe harbor and easy recovery.
After a quick errand, he put the drone up in the air, but the wind made it return home. Our campsite is very calm, but we are in the middle of a mossy forrest. Above the trees, there is wind. Not a breeze, wind.
We spent the afternoon at our computers with one of our friends and then headed to dinner with a “show”. A few people were casting for crab off the fishing dock below us. They caught one with their casting snare, and it was a large-enough male, but they eventually put him back. I guess it wasn’t worth getting a boil set up for just one crab.
on our walk back to the truck.
Day 42 – California fire, easy day
We awoke to the news of massive fire in California. ::sigh:: This shit is getting old (no matter where you live or travel). This one is just as personal since that’s where we are supposed to go next. The current story is that some dood set his mom’s car on fire and rolled it down a hill. And now thousands of acres are going up in smoke. Fuck that guy.
Our four+some took our lunch stuff out for a picnic so we could talk about our shift in plans. We also watched people board down the steep sand dune at the water’s edge. We ended up driving all over in search of the ocean and then giving up and running errands.
When we got back, we spent some time shifting one reservation from a smoky area to one that isn’t. (Earlier in our trip, our friends discovered an error in their reservation. So, they have already had an interaction with one very rude staffer at Lemon Cove Village RV Park in Lemon Cove, CA. Their 1-2* reviews all say the same thing; our review will be very honest.) Making our new reservations went smoothly. We’ll see tomorrow about canceling the one that is closer to the fire.
At around midnight, our power went out. So did that of our neighbors (but not our friends). It’s no real problem for since we have batteries/solar. But at 1:40am, our neighbor got in his car and left. I’m guessing he’s trying to find out why they are without power. He won’t get far on that front. We already called and got nothing.
Day 43 – powerless, Florence OR to Klamath CA
I awoke to still no power, but a few minutes later it came on, and then it was off again.
Our drive along the coast was very pretty pretty. The landscape here can change quickly.
We are getting to the point in the trip where it was difficult to get reservations at any places (late March bookings for a late July stay). Our new campground was a little scary:
- our assigned sites had campers in them
- there is no office, only a park host, who told us where to go
- you can hear the laundry (a dying dryer?) from several spots away
- most (all?) of the rest of the guests life here full time
- a “local” full-time resident told our friend that she should “let ‘her husband’ back in the camper because he’ll be better at it” — hey dipshit, don’t talk to people while they are parking a rig and shut your sexist, assuming mouth about her and her partner-not-husband, too
- there is a brand new fence up front attached to a neat and tidy house (that is a vrbo rental), but the sites and “amenities” look like they haven’t been updated since this place opened 30 years ago: 30amp, rickety fishing pier, crumbling pads on the sites that even still have them, one horseshoe pit (not a pair, one)…and that’s all there is
- …but during the peak of the season, they put two rigs per site – um, it’s July so when is the season’s peak if not now?
- they have let people live here for so long that they have mowed around their outdoor piles of junk
- at least the flag of stupidity is flying from the campground next door
We needed to escape, so we tried to find dinner in town, gave up, and went back north.
It’s going to be a long four days.
Day 44 – rest
We just rested. We had all the windows open, so I didn’t even go outside. It was kind of a dreary day and our friends were going for a couple of long hikes, so staying in seemed best. I even napped.
Day 45 – sunshine
Day 46 – fog and smoke
This morning, we found out they closed Lassen National Park, so deviating our trek was smart. There are also two fires closer to home, in Lyons and Loveland. Loveland was going to be our fall camping trip, but I guess we’ll wait on planning that, now.
We spent the afternoon with our friends. We hiked through Lady Bird Johnson Grove and then drove the same scenic loop we did the day before. It was pretty different with blue skies.
This whole area has shared/cooperative management. Redwoods National Park, the Yurok people, Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, (and maybe a couple of others) share responsibility for management of this area. You can even use your National Parks Pass for access to the state parks.
the day before was birds and seals
