From Barview Jetty County Park OR March 22nd

 

 

The slow road north commenced March 13th when I broke camp in the hills west of Ajo. Since leaving, I have covered a few miles in relative ease and stayed at various places – mostly RV Parks with electrical plug-ins and water provided. Having “Boondocked” for free the whole winter (except for my excursion to Vancouver Island in December/January), I thought I would stop looking for Walmarts and other free places to enjoy relative comfort in knowing where I was going to end up each night. The plan for the Oregon Coast was to spend a couple of nights at each of the chosen State or County Parks, thus having a free day to explore the region instead of packing up and moving along every morning. I have until the end of March to reach the Canadian border and stay within the timetable of my medical insurance plan.

Below, I am listing in short form the places I stopped en route, so far, prices where applicable and events as they may have happened.

 

March 13th – Lake Havasu State Park Overflow Camping (on the lake)

            $20 (too much) but in walking distance (1 mile) of the Golden Corral Buffet

            I underestimated the walk a little and, even with my cane decided it was a little far for my hips. Next time, one should catch the little Havasu Transit bus that passed me both to and from.

The buffet was, as always - a “stuffer”.

            No hook-ups but hot showers and toilets available

 

March 14th – Orange Grove RV Park near Bakersfield CA.

The last time I passed through Bakersfield, strong winds and heavy snow forced closure of the Tehachapi pass, just east of where I was going and shortly after I went over. It was a pleasant experience this time to cruise along in 80 degree weather and not worry about losing control of the trailer in slippery conditions.

 

            One can smell the aroma of oranges from miles away. Normally, guests can pick their fill of oranges as each site has at least one tree. This time, the picking season was ended as blooming was taking place. This was quite an expensive stop at $36 but Hugh and Christine Richards were overnighting there, plus it was close to Bakersfield where I wanted to go to visit the Verizon store to enquire about an upgraded MiFi Internet adapter.

Called a Jetpack MiFi 5510, my new machine cost $95 and is capable of providing Internet at 4G speeds (where available). It seems to have a very good battery life, works only on wireless (no USB) and occasionally gets me a signal even when the cell phone does not.

While at the Verizon Mall in Bakersfield, a security lady in her little car with amber flashing lights came by to inquire about my business at the mall. After establishing my credentials as someone who really was planning to spend money at the mall and justified taking up about 6 parking spaces to do so, we had a conversation about the general state of crime in Bakersfield and area, her mall in particular. Interestingly, Hondas are the most frequently boosted (stolen) cars because they are used in street racing; truck tailgates come next on the list of desirable items. I’m thinking that anyone who wants to take off with my tailgate would be making a big mistake as it is bent, scratched, and has to be held on to the truck with straps to prevent it from falling off. Anyway, I ended up getting my new MiFi which operates on a pre-paid basis. I get 3 Gbs of data for $60 per month, only for the months that I want it and don’t have to bear the costs of a year round contract. Essentially, this device is the same idea as the one that I already have, except that it can operate on 4G (much faster) networks where available. When 4G is unavailable, it will also work on 3G or 1X systems.

From Bakersfield, I-99, then I-5 North is a long haul over fairly monotonous terrain including a lot of orchard country. I made a stopover at Kit Fox RV Park in a place called Patterson, Ca (nothing special to report other than a Denny’s Restaurant next door), followed the next day by a more interesting route but one that I will probably not do again. Turning West on CA 12 was a mistake. This is one of the roughest, bounciest paved roads that I have driven in some time and while I saved a few miles over going up to Williams and then crossing to the coast via CA 20, this was not the way to go. 12 leads into Freeway 80 and that was bumper to bumper, white knuckle driving, on a Sunday yet, for all the distance it took to get to 101, the main drag north. 101 is, by contrast, reasonably scenic and less crowded, so I enjoyed that part of the day. That night, I made it through part of Redwoods National Park as far as Benbow RV near Garberville, CA. I had visited Benbow with Lynn and Donna Mae Wilson about 30 years ago on our golf trip south to Las Angeles one Spring. Benbow has a little golf course along with quite a well known restaurant at the old hotel and, while I didn’t play, or eat there, I was tempted for old times’ sake.
From Benbow, a short day to Humbug Mountain State Park (N44 09.805 W124 06.771), the first in southern Oregon that I had intended to visit. Two days there, a hike on the beach, a trip into nearby Port Orford to Griffs on the dock for chowder and oysters for lunch, the hardware store for hose couplings as my two hoses were both spraying water all over the place. Lastly, movies on TV rounded out the evening since there was no satellite access - cell phone service also very dodgy, though I could access Internet with the new Verizon Jetpack boosted by “Sleek”.

 

Again, a shortish trip up the coast to my next stop - Carl G Washburne Memorial State Park Campground. (N44 09.8054 W124 06.771). Another very attractive location, about ½ mile from the beach, no cell, no satellite but very weak Internet with the jetpack and Sleek.

During the drive, I stopped at Coos Bay, probably the Oregon Coast’s best effort at producing a “city”, to have brunch at “The Mill” Casino where there is free parking for RVs and an RV Park for those who need one. With my I-phone, I found and phoned an RV repair place that would look at the main slide on my trailer. It had been sticking for some time, squealing in protest and moving with only short bursts when I pressed the switch. I felt it was threatening to give up the ghost, probably miles from anywhere. This place - Porter’s RV, was excellent. They took me in right away, moved a Motorhome out of the way and went to work. The mechanic had things figured out and fixed in an exact half hour, including a run across the street to a Napa to get a new “pressure relief breaker(?)” that had grown weak with age (like many of us). In addition, he sprayed the rubber weather stripping with some rubber softener because, again with age, the rubber had become brittle and was grabbing the slide. Anyway, it works fine now and I was back on the highway in short order.

 

For my spare day at Carl G Washburne, I hiked to the beach, stopped to see and take pictures at Heceta Head Lighthouse on my way to Florence in which I found the Three Rivers Casino (N43 58.906 W124 05.254) where the chowder was good along with a Caesar Salad and excellent breadsticks dipped in balsamic vinegar and olive oil – all for $6.45! On any future trip I would consider staying at Three Rivers (free) as they encourage RVs, have a special parking lot available and a buffet open on some days of the week. Coming back to camp, I decided that I had better check up on the Sea Lions, who inhabit a giant cavern (185’ high) in a cliffside not far from my camp. I remember vaguely going to see these lions, or progenitors of same, back in the 50s with my parents on a camping trip. I’m pretty sure that we had no elevator to whisk us 200’ down to the cave but my hips and I were quite thankful for the ride ($13 for seniors).

The Sea Lion Caves were really spectacular because, in addition to all these 2000 pound creatures roaring and trying to look as alluring as possible for their mates, draping themselves over sheer pinnacles of rock, huge surf kept coming into the cave and crashing against all these rocks in a relentless manner. I reckoned that some of these lions must occasionally get whacked on the head by the rocks when they try to get out to go hunting but the attendant told me that he was unaware if that ever happened since sea lions have very tough skin. I wouldn’t question that premise but the power of the waves was phenomenal and I watched these animals slide off their rocks into the surf, attempt to head out to sea, only to be swept back inland against the rocks by the next big wave. The old attendant maintained that they were “having fun” and so it may be though I’m not quite sure how he would know that? Anyway, a good day by my standards.

 

March 22nd Barview Jetty County Park (N45 34.377 W123 57.048)
Barview is quite a large park, fairly wide open and definitely in the Tsunami Zone (all the way up the coast, roadside signs proclaim one to be “in it” or “leaving it”), being very flat to the sea. The trip north from Carl G Washburne Park was only about 3 hours, given the slow, winding coast road. I stopped on the way at the Tillamook Cheese factory – extremely crowded with masses of very large people eating ice cream. I was prepared to mail a brick of cheese to Tony W for his birthday but Tillamook has stopped offering that service since I was last here. (it’s the thought that counts,Tony)

For a County Park, Barview seems to me to be pretty expensive at $43 for the first night (includes a brand new $10 “transaction fee” that is not explained on the website), then $32 for subsequent nights. Dogs or other pets cost extra, as do showers and WiFi, if you need it, but kids are included so, given my druthers, State parks are vastly superior. When I arrived, the staff at the front gate told me that they had to hurry and had no time to take my money as they had to attend a staff meeting – strange time to hold a staff meeting just when  all the travellers are arriving at 3.30 in the afternoon! They just had time to give me a list of reserved sites where I should not camp, none of which had been occupied by the following morning, so I’m still trying to work this one out. Anyway, I’ll stay a couple of days since I have the satellite rigged up for TV, another $15 week of Internet service from Verizon and good cell signals. Perhaps best of all might be the Pirate’s Cove Restaurant, about 2 miles south on 101 – excellent seafood and chowder. From Barview, it will be Highways 6 and 26 from Tillamook to Portland, then along the Columbia River to Boardman County park – hope they are still affordable!