Thurs – FRI and Sat….somehow I got the days mixed up

White creature in the woods

Thursday night I camped in the Redwoods, stayed in the pop-up section of the Emerald Forest  in Trinidad. – I asked for a quiet spot and was so rewarded. Dark and quiet in the redwoods, I’d stopped earlier in a redwood grotto slipping in and out of the Redwood HWY scenic bypass  …Mason was unable to explain why a tree should be sooooo big! Tried walking the main road with the dogs, but that didn’t work…too much traffic and little to no shoulder. The world of cars leaves little room for wanta be pedestrians. Instead I braved the tiny one lane rutted  dirt road in the LT to check out the seascapes …what could be the worse that could happen? It was nervy but after all, in my car I wouldn’t have hesitated. Saw all the sights, the party crowd at Moonstone Beach, the sandy beach where the dogs had a romp, the rocky cliffs, the harbor, the replica of the lighthouse (I’m not sure what happened to the real one.) I was fairly tired and feeling challenged by being alone. The campground was nice and quiet.

These beaches are great if I could just keep my feet dry!!!

Saturday August 20^th I landed at a KOA in Waldport Oregon.

As I wrote: (and it explains a bit what happened to me on Fri night LOL:

It’s very expensive (the KOA)…$60 for one night. It’s supposed to come with Internet, which it has but it doesn’t work, the cable TV hook up doesn’t work either. I picked up the last spot available, a rather late decision as I’d intended to head to Corvallis until I discovered that it was 100 degs  (I would like to check, but no Internet – no TV–this took hours of technical mumble jumble and well, I’ll not call them lies, so instead say the night staff, while very friendly and kind are technically challenged– to discover) as I plan to head that way in the morning. At the moment I have my blackout  blockers and my curtains up, doors and windows closed and my inside air conditioner with the filer blowing; my neighbors , a young family in a cabin a few feet from my spot, are huddled around a billowing fume of heavy smoke – normally if I saw something like that I’d think about calling an emergency fire truck!  LOL I want to hand them a boy/girl scout manual and basic camping guide….what it must be doing to their lungs! The camp is crowded and there are spotlights as if these campers are afraid of the night. The smoke is making my head and throat ache Maybe they’re hoping to disable their little one’s vocal cords? I walked to the beach and came back with one very clean Terrier and one horrifically dirty Water Dog. The Water Dog had to be shampooed and walked until dry; so much for free time. Had chocolate ice cream with sprinkles for dinner–there was an ice cream social.

I saw the perfect camp an hour or so before I arrived in Waldport. The RVs were perched like gunmen on the cliff overlooking the sea—quiet, serene, secluded. I should be there but it wasn’t late enough to stop driving for the day.

It’s been day of romping and showing off my dogs. Florence, Oregon turned out to be my favorite city so far. Hated Coos Bay and everything else I saw yesterday…..yesterday btw was a real trial. I was exhausted and discouraged with the general Oregon scene… almost considered turning back to California–the wind was fighting me, the curves taunting me, I was the slowest vehicle on the road and was having trouble staying on it! So the next day finding Florence with its bustling farmers market, vendors, cafes, shops and really really friendly people was a balm I badly needed. A couple invited me to sit at their table and chat; the dogs got free French Fries, I was starving.

Lots of people talked to me, I handed out copious helpful hints and how to have your dog not pull you down the street. One woman showed me how her hands were raw from holding the leash….oh my.

Fri night is not a good time to expect to find a place to park an RV for the night, especially if that Fri falls close to Labor Day and back to school. Everyone who hasn’t already done so is required to take their kids on a summer outing and camping, RV camping, is wildly popular on the coast of Oregon. You don’t want to hear how desperate I was Fri night…. campgrounds full, lots of suspicious RV parking lots looking like derelict homeless encampments, in fact, the State Ranger took pity on me and told me where the homeless encampment was, she said, since I had the dogs (oh, yes…they would kiss any attacker to shame!) I could try it; otherwise she suggested Walmart or the Casino. I checked out the homeless encampment and bypassed it…for some reason I thought the Casino would be rough so headed to Walmart, there were a dozen RVs scattered around the edges of the parking lot trying not to look suspicious under the copious postings….NO OVERNIGHT RV PARKING….  I asked the Walmart manager, oh, she said, you’re welcome to park in our lot as long as you like, its okay with us but the CITY, the city has an ordinance against such things and if you leave your RV it might be towed or you might be woken early in the morning and ticketed.I spent 2 lonely hours worrying about all this, moving the van around and walking the dogs so I check on what the other RVs were doing. As soon as it turned dark I gave up, not dark really with the blazing lights…the Walmart was huge, the parking lot massive. I couldn’t take it, in the dark I scurried….  at long last I decided to check out the Casino (this was in North Bend near Coos Bay) Oh MY GOSH, I found all the RVers!!!!!!! They all knew, I was the only one in the dark. The place was jammed, like a Las Vegas for RVs. The spots with power and water were completely filled but the gravel dry camping lot was open. The place was secure, calm and quiet which was amazing given how many RVs were occupying the site…and it was free! Once settled, I popped a movie on the DVD player then had a peaceful nights sleep.

It’s morning at the KOA in Waldport and I’m doing laundry and scrubbing the walls inside the LT to remove the smoke taint. The park assistant checked the TV cable, yep–problem is with the site and now, even in the office there is no Internet. No posting till ????? later. At least they had pancakes.