30 mph, in a camper, it means 30 mph. The curves of 101 can sneak up on you, and after I wheeled us around one declining radius curve, all I could say to Linda was “I promise to slow down much, much sooner.”We left the Beach Side State Park camping spot with a little reluctance; it was very cool to be staying in a spot where the ocean was just out your back door. If I were to rate the park on a scale from 1 to 10, I would have to give the place a 7, but also rate individual parts of the campground. Beach side row I give all spots an 8. They are close together, but right on the ocean. Site 63 is the primo view site. Second row in gets a 7.5 and then it is downhill from there. All other sites are just ok. They are close together, but you are just yards from the beach. If possible avoid the sights toward the roadside. Just like the beachside sites, but the opposite, they are right on Highway 101. If you are into watching traffic go by then these sites are just right for you. The shower facilities are normal for state parks. They were clean and the water was hot in the showers. Showers were a bit small, but if I can get in and get clean then most anybody can do it also.
Our next camp site was located at Sunset Bay State Park about 85 miles below our Beach Side camp. It only took us about an hour to get the equipment stowed and ready to travel. The route took us through Yachats and into Florence. In Florence we walked the streets of Old Town for about an hour, but none of the residents took any of our money. We just didn’t find anything we liked or felt we needed so the economy of the town was not stimulated by Idaho dollars.
When we came over the bridge into North Bend, Linda said she remembered the sign over the road. She had lived in North Bend for two years, 27 years ago. As the entry sign faded behind us nothing we passed registered in Linda’s memory. Nothing looked familiar until we passed the Coos Bay area athletic club where she played racquetball back in her days here. She said it was unnerving to not recognize any features of the two towns.
Arriving at the campground the rain changed to a mist as we set up the camper. Our spot is nothing like the one at Beach Side. We are tucked back against an elevated road that leads to a golf course. When I reserved the spot I had done so because it was located near the yurt that Diane and Al Dee had rented. On the map the yurt looked to be about 100 yards across the campground, in actuality it may be about 25 yards from our location. The map didn’t show the road to the golf course.
After we were finished with our set up, we drove into Coos Bay and found a spot where I could access wifi to upload our blog and check our emails. Linda called Diane and talked to her for a bit and then tried to get ahold of Loretta, and then we stopped and got gas in the Jeep. On the drive back we stopped at Bastendorff Beach and ran the dog for about an hour. We met some forks from St. Maries, Idaho who were down on vacation; it seems we have run into a lot of people from our area. I don’t blame them; John Sutherland said they got six new inches of snow today.We got up about 7:00AM, Linda got on her bike and worked out, and I made coffee and then took Kobi for a walk. I walked a ways down the road and ran into our neighbor. His name was Michael and he was going to walk his dog Kayla. We walked to the grass picnic area tog
ether and let both dogs off to run. They took off, and for the next 45 minutes did not stop running. Michael and I talked the entire time about many different subjects, but mostly we talked about our dogs, past and present. One thing that he mentioned about Sunset Bay was that it was the playground for the Tsunami Warriors, a group of hard core surf kayakers. He said that they will go out into the huge break that happens at high tides and stormy seas and kayak the most outrageous conditions. Michael says it’s sick!The dogs chased down to the beach and Kayla led Kobi into the surf, she was chasing seagulls and Kobi was chasing her. Kayla was much faster than Kobi, and it became obvious that she was in much better shape than our dog. We walked back together, just two guys and their mud covered dogs.
When we returned Linda had taken a cold shower and was ready for the day. I had taken my shower just as soon as I got up and my shower was hot. I guess we need to make sure that we either get our bathing done early or later in the afternoon. Morning crowds may affect the temperature of the water.
I fixed a light breakfast and we put everything away. Kobi was cold and shaking when we loaded him in the jeep so we fixed him a special spot and turned up the heat. We first drove out to Cape Arago State Park where I took some pictures and we checked out some of the facilities. Linda had visited here when she lived in Coos Bay; in fact she had skipped work on the first sunny day of the year to come out to the point and sun bathe. As the story goes, she called in sick and then drove out to lie in the sun. She drifted off to sleep and when she woke up she had a terrible sun burn. It was hard explaining that to her principal.
We talked a bit and decided to take a drive down 101 to Bandon by the Sea. We had heard of Bandon cheese, so we figured that there would be cheese factories and cheese shops all over the town and if that was the case, we had to see it. We left the Sunset Bay area and were headed to Coos Bay when I spotted a sign that said Bandon, 24 miles. I hit the brakes and turned. I guess Linda had a different plan in her head, because I spent the next five miles explaining that everything would work out just fine and that we have to take these impromptu side trips to make the drives more exciting. Linda wasn’t buying it.
The mystery road connected with 101 about ten miles out of Bandon. The cutoff may have saved us about 30 miles of driving which turned out to be very nice. As we drew closer to Bandon we saw a sign for Bullards Beach State Park, I hit the turn signal and off we went to explore. The park was nice, so we drove the camping loops. Spots again are close together and boy, there were a lot of them. I guess Oregon really packs out during the summer, so the more camping spots, the merrier.
At the end of the road we came to a lighthouse. I walked to the monument to explore, Linda took Kobi to the beach to play chuck-it. The lighthouse was being supervised by a husband and wife team of volunteers. I checked out the historical photos and then climbed to the top of the light tower. The gentleman who was volunteering sat in a chair at the top and when we had four folks crowded into the space, he started his speech explaining the history of the house. This lighthouse was built as a channel marker house on the Coquille River, as opposed to a dangerous headwall/rock lighthouse. It was the last lighthouse built on the Oregon coast, and is the last one to be restored. Restoration is far from over; in fact they are just getting started.
Once the tale of the lighthouse ended and everyone except me had departed down the steep stairs, I chatted with the fellow about his job as a volunteer and about his retirement. He told me that retiring was the best thing he had ever done, and that his retirement at the age of 55 gave him wonderful opportunities to travel and volunteer. I was once again glad to hear that retirement is something to look forward to and that it is only as exciting as you make it. You have to get out there and do things that will give you wonderful new experiences.
I met Linda at the Jeep and we drove on into Old Town Bandon where we walked around and stopped at a coffee shop. We had a snack, loaded up and found a grocery store where we bought a couple items we needed. Heading North on 101, Linda said to look for our cut-off road, it really proved to be “a serendipitous adventure.” I smiled to myself and drove home.
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