Eugene to California and Beyond!

Leaving Eugene we pointed our long rig southwest following the corridor that leads you to Reedsport and the ocean. Our plans were to boondock at a wide pull-off Linda found by using the iOverlander app. We took our time driving down the windy highway leading to the coast. It was a bit of a hard drive due to the rain and the high winds.

When we hit Hwy 101, we checked the weather reports and found that there were gale force warnings for the next 24 hours. It was predicted that winds could get higher than 35 - 45 knots.  Of course, we Googled that and found that 35 Knots is about 45 mph, anyway they were strong and we felt we needed to keep up-to-date on weather changes.

As we drove down the coast we were buffeted by the strong gusts, but it was not something we needed to be concerned about.  We reached our first boondocking spot and found that there was no protection from the winds, so we moved on. The next spot Linda chose was a good one, but I goofed up and we shot on past. As a large rig, turning around takes some space so I convinced Linda that we should continue on to Harris Beach State Park near Brookings, OR.

When we arrived the campground was almost full, but we found a nice spot. The campsite was a back-in site, so we had to disconnect the Jeep and back into the slot. We had a nice evening and got some needed rest while the rain pounded down on the top of our home.

Our morning routine, in this case, was to eat breakfast, use the bathroom facilities, pack the camper, and finally move everything to the day-use area where we linked up with the Jeep. This took no time really and the views at this day-use spot were beautiful.

We were on the road by 9:30 AM and headed south on Hwy 101. 

This stretch of 101 is very curvy with steep climbs and some white knuckle, downhills.  The truck and Jeep performed like champs as we moved through the lower part of Oregon, into California. We swung past the Redwoods but this time we didn’t stop. It is our goal to get into the country we have never explored and then start looking at the sights.

We rambled on past Del Norte Redwoods State Park and into Klamath. At this time the sun popped out for a few minutes and we had a break from the rain.  Next, Eureka, CA was a very busy place with a ton of traffic. Of course, we hit it exactly at noon so it was bumper to bumper all the way through. 

Just past Orick CA, at 12:10 PM, our phones started squelching with an earthquake warning! The road was rather rough at that point and with the wind, we didn’t really notice anything drastic. Linda started a Google search for information dealing with the seismic event and found that there was a 6.2 quake 45 miles southwest of us near Petrolia. We continued on! 

Looking forward to our next boondocking spot at Bear River Tribal Casino, we exited I-101 near Fernbridge. We climbed the steep hill leading to the casino and turned the corner to the property. Immediately, we noticed that the gas station was blocked off and not in service. Continuing around the facility we started to see that all entrances were blocked off and no one was around except casino security. We walked to the front doors and were greeted by several employees. The entire grounds had been closed due to damage within the casino by the earthquake! They said everyone needed to move off the property until a structural engineer could assess the damage and assure everyone the place was safe. They told us that pipes in the building had broken and they were working on cleaning up.

We walked back to the truck and fired up the internet. I scanned iOverlander and spotted camping availability at the Humbolt County Fairgrounds, near Ferndale.  Linda called and the manager said that there were spots available so we fired up the rig and drove to our next night’s spot. 

Humbolt County Fairgrounds camp spot.

Linda went into the office and found that we could have a spot in the camp area for $35 with full hook-ups. For those spots, we would have to break apart from the Jeep. Now for $20, we could park in the flat parking log, use the same restroom facilities and not have to break apart the Jeep. We chose the semi-boondocking parking lot and were happy as clams.

9:30 AM seems to be the time we generally get on the road as we travel, and today was no different. We backtracked the path we came into Ferndale and stopped for fuel at a nearby station. Fuel is expensive! In California, we have averaged about $5.10 a gallon. Not for the faint at heart, I would say.

Trees and Cows

The rest of our day was spent driving in downpours of rain along very curvy highways. We made our destination by about 2:30 PM and snaked our way into our slot that we paid for the next two nights. We got set up and then watched the Seahawks football game. The team lost, they played better than we thought they would and if the officials would have made two correct calls, we may have beaten the Rams. Oh well, we have next year to look forward to, but we will watch the remaining games because we always do.

Our lay-over day spot!

Funkey bus that you can rent for the night.

Clear Lake from Aurora Rv.