CRUISING AND DANCING ON THE NORTH COAST

North Coast, Oregon - Oct. 1 - 4

THE SHORT CUT
Leaving the Columbia River Gorge and eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains, we headed to the Pacific Ocean.  The sun came out, the scenery was beautiful, and our GPS guy did an amazing job getting us through the concrete spaghetti junction in Portland and Vancouver.  About 20 miles from Nehalem, the GPS guy took us on a short-cut, or as we call it "the cow path".  As we turned onto Hwy. 53 the road was narrow and as we were debating if we should, or if we even could turn around, I spotted a warning sign "Road Narrows Next 19 Miles".  WHAT!?  By now there was no where we could turn around and had no choice but to continue on the narrow, winding, and bumpy path they call a highway.

Logging on the right side of the road.  Lucky us,we didn't have to squeeze by any logging trucks.

NEHALEM STATE PARK
Our campsite backs up to the sand dunes along the Ocean; we can hear the crashing surf and waves.  We took a path over the sand dunes and walked the beach while the tide was out.

Heavy surf washed a lot of foam up on the beach.

Sittin' in the sea grass lookin' at the ocean...ahhh.

THE COLUMBIA RIVER BAR - Oct. 2
We drove north to Astoria through the driving rain and fog.  Astoria was once the salmon and tuna canning capital of Oregon...and maybe even the world.  The canneries went out of business when fishing boats started processing their fresh catch on board.  We spent a few hours at the Maritime Museum learning about the treacherous and dangerous Columbia River Bar.  The Bar is not a place to kick back and order up a beer or other favorite beverage.  This bar is where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean and the two bodies of powerful water collide causing numerous shipwrecks, death, destruction and all kinds of havoc.  As ships from around the world approach The Bar, specially trained Bar Pilots board the ships to safely guide them across The Bar and into the Columbia River so they can continue their journey up to the ports of Portland and Vancouver.

This bridge in Astoria spanning the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington is just
over 4 miles long and built to withstand wind gusts up to 150 mph, and river flow of 9 mph.

IF IT'S NOT ONE THING, IT'S ANOTHER
For several reasons, any day of sunshine is a welcome relief.  Last week, after a sleepless night listening to pouring rain pound the roof (sounds like rapid machine gun fire) we discovered that the bedroom slid-out leaks.  In the morning, Jim reached for the shirt and sweater he had thrown on the floor before going to bed and they were sopping, dripping wet.  Although the clothes soaked up a lot of the water, some of the carpet was drenched.  We got the carpet dried out, and have temporarily solved the problem by keeping the slide-out in while it's raining...which is just about every day.

Wet on the outside.  We're dry on the inside.

Also, the microwave quit working.  The fixit list is getting longer.

BRAKE DANCING - Oct. 3
We got in the Jeep and started cruising down the Coastal Scenic Byway - Hwy 101, passing through small fishing villages and stunning scenery along the way.  Our destination was Tillamook, home of the famous Tillamook Cheese Factory.  About 15 miles outside of Tillamook, Jim got a panicked look on his face and said "OH, SH*T, we don't have any brakes!"  OMG, and deja vu.  At least this brake failure event didn't happen in rush hour traffic like it did with the RV in Phoenix last year, and it didn't happen on some of those scary mountain roads we experienced earlier on this trip.  By doing a brake dance using low gear and the emergency brake, Jim finessed the Jeep into Tillamook without killing us or anyone else.  We found a Ford dealership and service center where Kelly, the mechanic, took a look and diagnosed the problem as a broken brake line and said "this isn't a Jeep town, and we'll have to order parts, but we should have it ready tomorrow."  We rented a car and left the Jeep with Kelly. 

"I'm not a happy camper".

Late Friday morning, Kelly called with good news...the Jeep was fixed.  We packed up, left Nehalem State park, picked up the Jeep, returned the rental car, and drove to Cape Lookout State Park where we'll stay the next few days.