WA, OR, CA
Port Orchard, Tacoma, Portland, Winchester Bay, and Trinidad – whew! We’ve been busy. We left Port Townsend Wednesday morning. Our first stop was Port Orchard. Mike Dunlap (Jay’s evil twin, as they were known in the union) was away in California, but we had a nice visit with Lolita and saw their very lovely new house on a private air strip. In addition to the roomy house they have a spacious hanger, perfect for pilot Mike.
Back on the road, we stopped near Tacoma for lunch with one of Jay’s first girlfriends, Daidre. We had seen her last when we visited Bill in Port Townsend four years ago. She is as sparky as ever, and an hour flew by before she got beeped to go back to work. Jay has done an amazing job of staying in touch with friends over the years, and it’s a joy to see them together.
We drove down 5, leaving Washington and crossing the Columbia into Oregon. We checked into a nice campground, bought some jack stands (the automatic jack for the trailer died mysteriously in Montana), had a short rest, and then made our way through Portland to have dinner at the home of a relatively recent work pal of Jay’s, Jessica. Her husband Randy was away, but his parents were staying with her, helping out with the seven and four year old lively boys. I was tired, and tired of being with people, but it was really a lovely visit. Jessica is thriving. Jay and her father-in-law had a lot in common, and the conversation didn’t stop for over two hours. The boys mostly kept themselves busy, but they sure made me miss Asher and Rowan – who we will see in just a couple of days.
On Thursday morning we drove back across Portland to have a great breakfast at the Cadillac Cafe with Nancy’s brother-in-law, Blythe’s uncle David. I had met David only once before, just months after Nancy was killed a decade ago. I had liked David immensely then, and found even more to like on this visit. He’s had some huge health challenges, but is well now, and we’re trying to lure him out to Sunnyhill for a visit.
Driving south, we stopped at the Bob’s Redmill mother ship in Milwaukie, OR. When we first moved to Sunnyhill, Jay had 25 pounds of Bob’s steel cut oats shipped to us. We haven’t quite gone through them yet, but since we were in the area we bought another 25 pounds to take home. Because, why not? It was not quite as dramatic as stopping at the original Cabella’s on a previous trip, but close. If we hadn’t just finished a huge breakfast, we would have found plenty to eat at Bob’s. As it was, we settled for oatmeal raisin cookies, 10 grain bread, almond oat granola, and the 25 pound bag of oats.
We stopped Thursday night in Winchester Bay Oregon, after a beautiful drive over to the coast. It was our 15th night on the road, and the first time we’ve been in a noisy place. Nothing in the reviews of the campground revealed that it was a gathering place for ATV fans who like to ride on the nearby dunes and rev their engines in the campground. It was very windy – the first time I got sweaters out – but Charlie and I had a nice walk on the beach. The posted rules said no ATV riding from 10PM to 7AM, and sure enough, it was perfectly quiet over night.
From Winchester Bay to Port Oreford we rarely saw the Pacific Ocean. But Port Oreford’s bay has the same kind of huge rock islands off the coast that we see in Mendocino, and from there south the coast was stunning on another clear, beautiful day. South of Crescent City we saw signs for construction and one lane road ahead, but that’s hardly surprising during the height of the construction season. We slowed along with all the traffic. But we had not been warned of bumps, and as we came down hard off a huge, unmarked bump the trailer came unhitched with a jarring thump. We have safety chains, so the trailer stayed with us, but freed from the hitch it banged into our bumper again and again as we moved very carefully to the side of the road. The trailer was tilted forward, with the hitch nearly on the ground – no easy way to get it back up onto the hitch as it was far too low in front to get a jack under it. Jay called AAA, but after a long explanation of where we were and what our situation was, the call was dropped. Rather than try them again and wait for help, Jay got out the manual jack and the jack stands and figured out a way to cleverly raise the trailer bit by bit, starting at the back end of the hitch and inching forward to where he could get it hitched again. We were back on the road in remarkably short order, but it was a long time before Jay’s adrenaline level got back down to normal. To add insult to injury, at the next patch of construction they were oiling the road surface by hand with the oil blowing in the breeze, and we’ve got the oil spatters to prove it. Jay was furious about the poor workmanship and poor safety practices that lead to our unhitching, and the thoughtless practices that resulted in the oil spatters. The bump they had left in the road was dangerously and unnecessarily high, and the sin was doubled by leaving it unmarked.
We made the rest trip uneventfully, stopping in Trinidad, CA, half an hour north of Eureka. We are camped here in the Emerald Forest Campground in a beautiful stand of redwoods. We had already planned to spend two nights here, and with the stress of the drive Friday it was especially nice to have a quiet day off the road today. There’s a good sized dog park, and we got Charlie out to play a little ball. He’s been a super traveler, but it’s a challenge to get him enough exercise. Tonight we’re expecting company, Jay’s cousin Jeff and wife Kathleen from Eureka. Jay already has the smoker fired up and chicken thighs smoking.
Tomorrow, after 17 nights on the road, we have about a six hour drive to Palo Alto, and we’ll be parked in front of 3391 Thomas Drive for several days. I am so eager to see Liz and Sean and the boys (who are staying in our house while their kitchen is remodeled). We have plans to see all our family and we’ll see all of the chavurah who are in town at Judy Sadoff’s 90th birthday party. Today has been a restful, quiet conclusion to this first phase of the trip. We’ve had so many lovely visits with friends and family. We’ve spent many quiet, companionable days on the road and seen a lot of beautiful country. We’ve dipped into the NYTimes enough to know that the insanity has continued unabated, but we’ve been mostly detached from it. Out in the small towns we’ve visited there still seems to be a lot of sanity left in this amazing nation.