August 21st: In the morning, we traveled onward, the Redwood Highway-CA
We went through Orik-CA: a small community with the grand total of {357} people; it's seen better days, but I want to see rural America; thank you Holland, for this adventure ;-)
A little further down the road, the cat was out of the bag ;-)
Holland is the sweetest guy … when we got married, the Plan was to go back home from Reno over the coastal route - but, we were chased out of Nevada and California by a winter storm, so our Honeymoon Venture was cut short when we decided to come back home via the freeway. So, now, he says he is going to pick the route back up at Crescent City-CA ... and finish that coastal route for me.
He spoils me rotten, and I don't deserve him: but I'm glad he's in my life :-)
We both laughed when we crossed over a Pass and saw that we were passing through the same road work this trip, as we did when we passed through in January, on our way home from our Reno Wedding.
It seems to both of us, that in traveling across America we cross more Passes than anything else - but, thankfully we have only crossed over three really hard Passes: "the Ike", "Mt. Rushmore", and "The Bighorn National Park" - and that one will give you white hair in short order. But Holland did it, and I'm proud of him :-)
We also noticed that coastal oregon businesses apparently do not open before noon; closed restaurants, closed mini marts, closed fuel station warmers - absolutely nothing serving hot food was open.
Nada :-(
There were plenty of scenic beauties to tantalize our eyes … but there was no where to pullover to capture it on camera, or video moments.
But, we can capture those lost photo shoots in our memory - and that's what we are doing: spending time together, making memories :-)
As we traveled along the coastal 101 highway, through coastal towns, we saw some pretty cool old bridges.
We also saw flashing lights that held traffic up, and was thinking maybe there is a wreak ahead … but as we get closer, we saw that a man was putting gas in his tank from a gas can! That's what all the flashing lights is about???? NO car off the road - NO mangled vehicle … but there were three police vehicles with flashing cab lights, and at least six police people standing around with hands on holstered belts, "keeping the peace" … and traffic crawling forward at a snail's pace. All that for a man putting gas in his gas tank.
When we got to Florence-OR, all I saw was sand dunes everywhere. Holland laughed, when he saw my surprised expression. I didn't know that Florence was all about sand dunes and 4-wheeling - and that's what it's known far and wide, for; but Holland knows all about that. He said people come from all around the NW - and the country - to see and play around in the dunes, here. Holland has done his fair share of dune jumping with 4-wheeling vehicles ;-)
I just saw {Florence} on the map one day, and thought the name sounded adventurous - and planned an overnight trip (which never happened until now); coming down here to play around in the sand wasn't even a seed of an idea in my mind, when I planned my route down here 2 years ago. I'm glad I came with Holland - I don't think I'd have had much fun by myself: it's an eye-blink town; there's nothing much to do, here. There's just the dunes.
Now, I've been to Florence; and Holland said, "You can scratch that off your Bucket List of 'Things to Do', Baby."
God always answers your prayers - always. He may not answer you the way you want to be answered ... but, He always answers. And His answer is better than anything you had hoped for ;-)
From Florence-OR, to Newport-OR, we saw some pretty cool Art Deco Era designed bridges.
We drove straight through oregon; and didn't sleep at all until we got to the Dismal Niche Rest Area-WA, well after midnight, and set in for another night of boondocking ("dry camping"): which is the long-term goal.
Boondocking means setting up with no services - which is fine with us because we started this lifestyle prepared; our RV and 4x are outfitted for the boondocking lifestyle. We did have a washer & dryer installed in the RV, and budgeted to stay at an RV Park periodically to make use of the electric and water to do our laundry.
The issues we have encountered so far is (1) that the generator came with a carbon monoxide sensor that turns the thing off after 10 minutes! So, we have to find a way to modify that - or the generator is useless (2) most boondocking locations are on BLM land, National Forest Land, and State Parks land … none of these locations have a parking area big enough for us; the parking/camping spots were carved out and set up for tents, camper vans, and 30-foot RV's - no National or State Park designer took into consideration to plan for future RV's that would exceed the set limitations :-(
So, while we have the desire to live foot-loose and fancy-free, it proving to be more challenging than we had anticipated.
