Oregon Coast

(Seymour loooves eating cars.)

After the grueling hikes of Mount Rainier, Amber and I needed some serious R&R.  As our last entry indicated, we arrived in Astoria, Oregon, Tuesday night.  We found a very pleasant little coffee house and a beautiful paved path that ran along the coastline facing the state we had just left.  With each step away from home, the trip grows in intensity and seeing our homeland as a barely visible coastline made our wings feel that much bigger.  Tuesday night was also the first night we spent sleeping in a town.  It was a little bit of an adventure finding a suitable spot to sleep, private enough to feel safe and not be in anyone’s way and flat enough to manage to sleep without rolling all over each other during the night.  After a little searching we found the perfect spot nestled in a corner of bushes outside a church. 

The next morning we wandered back to our newfound coffeehouse and hung out for a good couple hours.  We were greeted by a local named Sam Coffey (at a coffee house no less!) and chatted with him while I played the guitar they had available for patrons.  Once caffeinated thoroughly, we hit the road again to find our next place to stay for the night. 

(Warning: not as many free samples as you dream of.)

At this point we hit our first “bump in the road”.  Not only were the Oregon speed limit signs obnoxiously fickle down Hwy 101 (it was not unusual to see a 55mph sign followed 200 feet later by a 35mph sign and then followed another couple hundred yards later by a 45mph sign and then a 55mph sign again), but because it was so hilly and most turn offs had clear postings saying No Overnight Parking, it was very hard to find a place to park.  The hours rolled on and on and it was approaching 7:30 when we finally came to the perfect little oasis for car-bound travelers in the little town of Depoe Bay, Oregon, which boasted the world’s smallest harbor. 

Here we found excellent flat parking facing a beautiful rocky shore.  And there were even picnic tables to cook on and a public bathroom nearby!  We cooked ourselves up some noodles with a red sauce and TVP (textured vegetable protein) and with a half a bottle of wine each we forgot all our cares. 

The next day (Thursday) we hit the road again, this time with the resolve to find a sandy beach and live like bums.  And that we did, only a few miles later in Southbeach.  Although very windy that day, we managed to find a little spot next to some bushes that was protected from the wind.  Together with a blanket and some sunscreen, we laid our bodies out for a good couple of hours and soaked up the sun.  Feeling adequately saturated in the goodness of the heavens we looked for a place to settle down for the night. 

Unlike the previous night, we found an excellent spot almost right away overlooking a beautiful sandy beach.  Feeling satisfied, we lounged around until sunset when we went for a nice walk on the beach with Seymour dog, who found the largest pieces of driftwood possible and attempted to drag it across the sand.  End the night with some freezing toes in the Pacific Ocean and the day is a success!

-          John

So we’re 13 days into living in the car, about 8 days of the actual trip part of it all, and I already feel haggard. The days are filled with more survival-type tasks than I expected. The morning ritual of taking down the bed, setting up the car for the day, making breakfast and getting ourselves and Seymour ready for the day is about 3 hours. I’ve never been a morning person, poor John.

The last couple days have been spent hanging out on the beach, hanging out in the car, or just driving, usually looking for a spot on the side of the road. Sleeping on the side of the road is taking some getting used to. I wonder if and when I will get used to sleeping on streets and shoulders of highways. The first couple of nights, every time a pair of headlights would drive by I would feel sure that they were about to stop and knock on our window or slash our tires. Now it’s only every 3^rd car or so that I feel that way, so I’m already feeling more comfortable with it.

The evenings are the best. When our spot is already picked, the dinner has already been made and eaten with everything put away. Our bed is set up and waiting for us and Seymour Dog has tuckered himself out. John and I watch the sunset together, sharing tea or wine or popcorn or just a conversation from the front seat of Luna Van. These are my favorite moments, the moments we’ve worked so hard for, saving and planning for the last year and a half, and then spent the day building towards. This is MY life! And this amazing man next to me is MY man! These are the days.

-          Amber

(there were Grey Whales in there too.)