“With Each Day Brings a New Beginning”
November 3, 2013
We started off this morning or rather late morning as it was about 11:30, just south of Eugene, OR. I did not start off fine. First I must say that I was quite impressed with Deerwood RV Park. Though it was built for the “Big Rig”, its paved level pull through sites were perfect for Sandy as our frig works best when it is level and I am not carrying leveling blocks.
So after a perfect night, some blogging and internet time this AM, I packed up and got ready to go. That in itself is quite a chore for one guy and a little dog. First I make Lexie’s Breakfast and while she is eating I put coffee on. Then take her out for her business and by the time we get back, the coffee should be done percolating. Then I cook my breakfast, eat and then I have to clean up the dinner and breakfast dishes, break camp (pack up everything and get Sandy travel ready) and hit the road. This usually takes me about 3 hours from the moment we wake up until I am on the road. It could go faster, but I don’t see a need t rush. After all, isn’t that why we are in a Bus and out on the road for a month?
Well, I got everything done, started Sandy and it wasn’t a healthy start either, shifted her in First and went to pull out of the spot when she just stopped. OK, I stalled her. Let’s restart…nope! Nothing! Not even a click. Dead Battery! Damn! OK, I pushed her pack to our spot (only possible because this was a level black topped campground), plugged her in and hit the charger on. But wait a second. If the battery was dead, why was the radio, GPS and Cell all powered up and working. Humm, I pulled out my meter and checked the battery. She’s putting out 11.8 volts. OK. She ain’t dead so no need to check the amps now. I checked the cable and the positive side was loose. I tightened it and tried again. Nothing! OK, now what. Did the ignition switch fail? No, let’s KISS(Keep It Simple Stupid). She started, though not with a lot of umph, but she started. That could have been because of the loose cable, but once she was running, what would have caused her to die? Short, Fuse, Broken Wire. OK, keeping is simple, lets go with fuse first. I pulled the cover and all the fuses looked good, but they were not all straight. I pulled them and reinserted each one. Then I gave Sandy another try. BINGO. She started right up and with umph this time. Loose Fuse and Loose wire. OK, we are on the road!
We pulled into Eugene, OR under cloudy skies, fueled up and headed West to Florence back to the Ocean! Not two minutes later it began to rain again. It rains a lot here, or so I thought. The fact is that Eugen, OR only gets 46″ of rain a year, while back home in Vermont we get just under 56″. So why does it seem like it rains a lot here. Well, its because while we get about 4-6″ per month every month. Eugen, OR only gets it in the winter months.
So Westward Ho!
We arrived in Florence just as the skys began to clear up and turned right on the 101 to head North. It felt real good to be back at the ocean. I may have been born in a city and raised in a suburb, but it is on the water I feel at home. We stopped at one of the Overlooks for a photo shoot to discover more Sea Otters out in the surf.
No sooner did we get back in the Bus than the rains came again. We traveled the rest of the day in rain until just before sunset. Tha is when I pulled over for our next photo op only to discover some awe inspiring surf, amazing views and just sat there taking it in. When I use to ride, people would ask me if I was scared (of dying). I wasn’t and would reply that the day I was scared would be the day I stopped because you can’t ride scared. (Yes, I did stop) But while death is not something I fear, it is something I will hate and its days like today that are the reason. What I saw today was so beautiful, so amazing that no matter how many pictures or videos I take, I will never capture what I saw, felt, heard, smelled while standing there. That is was is so horrible about dying and that is why I must take every opportunity to experience what I did today and why everyone should take every opportunity to do this. We do not know when our number is called. Planning for the future is good, but not if you are putting off living till the future because today is all we are promised.
Further up the road, we pulled into the town of Newport, OR. I stopped in town as I needed an Oregon sticker for the bus. They did not have one, but the woman told me to head down to the Bay and I should find one there. So off we went. (right about now, my Mom is reading this and she should be having flashbacks of our family packed into a station wagon traveling East across Florida because someone – me – wanted a horse souvenir. We discovered Ormond Beach that night and spent many years going back) this time, I was about to discover the Historic Fishing Village of Newport, OR.
We pulled into the old town and found a spot to park right on the main strip. Upon stepping out of the Bus the smell of fish hits you immediately and not in a bad way. There are fisheries all over here. The street is packed full of tourists, fisherman and little shops and restaurants everywhere. I go into the first place and no luck, but I did find another sticker 
I picked up. They sent me to a second and I found another in there, but they could not break a big bill so I headed to the corner store and found a third there, went back to the second and bought that too and then had to find out where the Sea Otters were as I could hear them. We wet out onto the fishing pier and there I could see out in the bay, an island of rocks and perched upon those rocks were countless Sea Otters all singing there songs.
Back onto the street, I stumbled upon another shop called Made in Oregon. Lexie and I step inside and I ask the friendly woman behind the counter if they have stickers. She points me in the right direction and with that I hear “Hi Vermont” Now my Bus is quite a ways down the road so I turn with curiosity as to who just recognized Lexie and I. There in the shop were my new friends from the day before; Kristy and Brad. I met Kristy and Brad yesterday up at Cougar Terwilliger Hot Springs in Willamette National Forest some 3 hours South and East from where we stand here. Kristy is a Traveling Nurse out of Idaho and Brad is from Boston, but went to the University of Vermont.
Its chance encounters like this that I simply love when traveling and if you travel enough it does happen a number of times. It reminded me of the time on a motorcycle when I stopped and camped across from Elvis’s house and a couple of weeks later I run into a couple that I had camped next to that night all the way in Western Texas. Neither of us took the same route there. It was simply a chance encounter.
We traveled a bit further up the road and came across an RV Park on the water called Sea and Sand RV Park . I decided to give it a shot and it was a perfect shot. (If you are thinking of camping in this area I highly recommend it, though its RV’s only) We set up camp. I fed Lexie and we headed down to the beach. I immediately tore off my boots and socks and as Lexie stretched her legs running on the wide open beach, I ran toward the water! In I went. Didn’t go swimming, but did go in up over my ankles. Then it was off running down the beach so both of us could stretch our legs, lungs and just take in the feeling of running on the sand at sunset.
We returned about an hour later and no sooner did we get into the bus when the skies opened up again. Safe, warm and now Dry, I prepared dinner for myself while Lexie took to sleeping after all that exercise.
Yes…I do admire the beauty the world has to offer, but I LOVE the ocean and a sand beach.
Photo Album: https://goo.gl/photos/Wd2z4qivFmPnrW2QA
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