Dreams of the dazzling blue Pacific

8/18:

Today was the day! I was going to finally make it to my destination: the Pacific! 

As always, Jane and I headed west. But first we looped back through Crater Lake one more time because the day was clearer:

Positioning the car in the sun this way obscures the amount of dirt currently clinging to her.

As we headed west the scrubby plains eventually gave way to Oregon's famed forests. There aren't many forests like them back east - here, the forests are ancient and the trees are massive. Gazing upon them reminds you of your humanity and of how small you are in this great big world. Roaring through them in a very small, angry little pony car is even more humbling - especially when you get out to snap a picture, I found. Back home, if a tree falls on your car it's inconvenient and probably totaled but you're probably okay. Here, if a tree fell on your car, there would be nothing left of you to feel inconvenienced! Couldn't help thinking about that as I drove underneath the towering trunks and arching branches. Nothing like a little morbidity to accompany your pleasant drive through the forest!

Cruising through Umpqua National Forest

Tiny.

We pressed on, succeeding in not getting smashed by any wayward trees. The further west we got the more twisty the roads got. Tons of fun to haul through trying to keep up with the locals. Without the rear sway bar Jane doesn't handle quite so well, but she is still very solid and it is no problem at all to go flying through the turns.

My favorite moment of the drive was at some random overpass,  where I suddenly thought about the fact that Jane's horn hadn't gone off arbitrarily since April (sometimes it just goes off for no apparent reason,  usually when inconvenient or embarassing).  Not more than a minute later.... BEEEEEEPPPPPPP.  Yep,  there goes the horn.  I think sometimes Jane just likes to remind me that she's the one in charge. Fortunately pressing the horn button turned it off... this time. 

Eventually we made it to Bandon, Oregon, my first stop on the Pacific. I had booked the Bandon Beach Motel, which is right on the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. And here's my first view of the majesty of the Pacific!

It's there somewhere... I swear

Yep, my dazzling blue Pacific dreams had to give way to realism: the Pacific generates fog and mist like Jane generates piles of broken parts.  So I hung out for a while and waited for the fog to recede.   When it did I was rewarded with an awe-inspiring sight: the famous seastacks of the Pacific.

Tons of birds chilling on this rock

 I went for a nice walk on the beach and saw some cool stuff!  The beaches in oregon seem more wild than those I'm used to - instead of being clean and pristine they are left to their own devices which means lots of interesting stuff gets washed up onshore and left.

A giant redwood stump!  Dates on it carved back as far as 1909

Part of a fish jaw

Well,  I walked on the beach for so long that I forgot to get dinner.  Fortunately there was a pizza place open late so I had a delicious calzone.  My plan was to hang out in Bandon for another day to relax - a kind of reward for Jane and I for reaching the other side of the country. I feel like we deserved it!

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8/19:

It was very odd to wake up and not have to pack up and leave today!  So I confess: I laid in bed and read a book until noon just because I could. And it was foggy out anyways.

After lunch the sun came out so I had no more excuse to be lazy so I headed back out to the beach. Much nicer view this time!

Wooo creepy

Some anemones I found in a tide pool

Later in the afternoon I decided that a sunset horseback ride would be wonderful.  I rode horses competitively for 10 years or so and still really enjoy riding when I get the chance. Of course, as soon as sunset rolled around,  so did the fog.  Still had a great time though regardless of the weather.

I wound up back at the pizza place for dinner (not by choice this time,  but because it was the only place left open after my ride)  and concluded my day with more book-reading.  It was really nice to relax for a day but truth be told,  I've been on the road for so long now that I'm used to moving and I was ready to be back at it.  Plus,  Jane was growing a veritable coat of salt sitting on that cliff,  which I was viewing with more and more alarm each passing hour.  Rust is the bane of all classic cars and I'm sure it did quite a bit of growing while I was there in the mists.

Anyways,  the next post will be from a different direction than usual... south!  Amazing!  Kelly signing out.