Yesterday we took an amazing and steep hike out to Cape Lookout. There were lots of cut off posts (trip hazards) neighboring the plummet-to-your-death-cliffs that made me grateful Brian Woods wasn’t there.
Little did you know, I would use this picture in a blog post… #infamousFall
Shady soggy beautiful
Watch your step
Long way down
Snake
Pics from the Cape Lookout hike
2 things to know about Oregon: 1) They love dogs. There’s a dog hitch outside the bathroom. They are cool to be off leash on the beach as long as they come back to you. George even saw several dogs in the safeway. 2) You still can’t pump your own gas in OR. It’s weird. You just sit there and watch them. Also, do you tip them if they clean your windows? Things I’d like to know.
Campground Beach: Arch in far back ground
From Cape Lookout, we traveled up to Cape Meares Light house and there we ran into the parents of the brewer at Burial Brewery in AVL… So strange. We must give of beer pheromones. They gave us recommendations for beers in Bend, OR. Boneyard/rpm is now on the list.
That’s the end of the cape Lookout hike that we did earlier.
Going through Tillamook we stopped at the creamery for cheese, yogurt, and icecream. Yes, you’re officially on vacation when you wait in line for cheese!
Cheese!
I waited in this line.
Nahalem Bay wins the best beach award.
Nehalem Bay State Park *****
Beach and mountains, I’m in!
Ringo coming in hot
Can’t figure out why people keep asking us if we’re from TN
We are getting used to the conveniences of modern camping. Stop, drop and roll is my new favorite. On the down side, I’m still getting used to parking. Sometimes I just hawg spaces because I can’t park frank n furter yet. #parkingfoul
So, to the real business. We saw cool stuff today.
Thor’s Well
Crashing waves
George, the waves are behind you…
Crashing wave
Old farts
Thor’s well bursting
Thor’s well draining
Ringo studying the scenic views
Devil’s churn
Cape perpetua: Thors’ well and devil’s churn were pretty cool. There was a dead seal in devil’s churn. Once you get in, you can’t get out.
We tried to go to rogue brewery in Newport but they didn’t like us (twice) so we went to a seafood market, grabbed fish and chips, beers and Dungeness crabs and made tracks to cape Lookout.
Pictures from the drive and Devil’s punchbowl
Lots of fog and 60 degrees. I cuddled up with a hot toddy after dinner and a short with a longgggg jacket. I hear Portland was 115 today. #OregonCoast
Trecking down Hwy 101 towards Jessie Honeyman State Park. We’re stopping at several seafood markets hunting Dungeness crabs but it sounds like they are out of season because Halibut season just started. I guess we’ll just have to suffer through all the local smoked salmon. Yesterday we bought a salmon tube stick that resembled salmon jerky/salmon sausage. It was good, but the smoked salmon we got in Brookings at Pacific Ocean harvesters was the best so far.
We then went to the sea lion caves. I took lots of pictures and lots of videos and I’ll try not to bore you, but they’re like giant slugs. Incredibly funny in their posturing with thier tiny little flappy fin arms. The cave is the states largest sea cave. http://www.sealioncaves.com/
What I wasn’t expecting to see on the Oregon coast was little blue dune buggies in the sand. I kinda wish I had an atv.
We ‘hiked’ up to the top. Atvs having a lot of fun right over there.
Lady squatch
Sweet camp ground
Where’s the salt
Campground chef
We are eating blueberries like they are free because they practically are.
Ringo was so stinky from ocean water and sand after his SandDune romp that he and Dr. Bonners met in the campsite shower. While waking around the campsite drying him off we noticed this set up. I think it would be funnier to have a dangling step ladder instead of the step stool.
What a beautiful day in OR. Probably the first day we really relaxed into our semisabbatical. After leaving Harris Beach, we spent two nights at Sunset Bay.
Sunset Bay campsiteTrail to beach from Sunset Bay state park to Yoakum PointBeach where Ringo played with his new best friend and we met locals who just happened to be the parents of the owner of the only brewery in town. (7 devils brewery in Coos Bay). They also told us how to get back to the campground in a a loop instead of an up and back. Looks like bowling balls in the rocksWe caught a glimpse of the Easter Bunny on our way back to the campsite.
We had our first t@g drop and roll out which was amazing. We headed into town for a delicious late lunch.
Delightful way to write postcards.
After a late lunch we headed to Shore acres (and gardens).
Shore Gardens
Then we played some music and ate some fresh halibut. #campgroundChef
The bus broke down again in Taft MT. We had very difficult discussion and decisions to make. Did we trust Veronica to get us to Harris Beach (and then 3000+ miles home? ). Sadly, the answer was no. We have broken down 4 times in the past 20 years that we’ve had her. Three of those breakdowns have been in the past 12 months. We have been very lucky on those break downs with friends close by (thanks Michael) and lovely selfless stangers who this last time jumped us and pushed us down a hill for a roll start. One extremely nice couple drove out of the dead zone to call AAA for us and THEN doubled back to confirm with us that a wrecker was on the way because they ‘couldn’t eat dinner if they knew we were stranded at a rest area in Taft with no signal’. Wrecker ETA was one hour.
These countless acts of kindness just remind me of how intrinsically good people are. We all just need to feel safe and loved. I’ve heard several post covid horror stories, but I’ve experienced nice humanity everywhere on this trip and it’s refreshing. The bus brings out the best in people. I heard several bus stories from the good Samaritans at the rest stop.
We wait, and after an hour and a half with no tow truck and darkness on the way, I begin profiling pit-stoppers for sympathetic glances while George attempts to start Veronica one more time. She starts! We must get out of the dead zone so we jump in and head out of the rest stop. We pull over at the next exit that has cell coverage and decide we have enough gas to get to Spokane which is where the next van alert approved fixit shop is. (Euro Union). Since it was running fine before we stopped, we just won’t stop. Next stop Spokane KOA. #dehydration
Veronica is tired. Euro Union is going to fix her up but we decided to move on with our once in a lifetime semisabbatical. That had to start with road ready equipment. We drove the bus to the Nissan dealership on the Spokane motor mile first and there she stayed (because she wouldn’t restart). This only solidified our decision. We needed reliable transportation.
Remember we have Ringo? First job: test drove a truck to get Ringo to doggie day care. Then, we went up and down the motor mile test driving multiple trucks. We finally bought a Tacoma (I’ve named him Frank) and unloaded all our worldly possessions out of Veronica and into storage containers and hope for no rain. We went to Walmart and bought a tent, Coleman stove, air mattress and left Spokane in the review by 7:30. Onward and upward…
Around dusk (8:30) it dawned on us, that we should not set up the new tent in the dark. We headed for the nearest campground. To say this campground was sketchy, doesn’t quite convey the sentiment. There was a cash transaction and a promise of showers (the grossest shower we never took). I slowly pumped up our air mattress, while George made an entire dinner. I froze all night and we were both terrified that someone was going to steal all our worldly possessions out of our unlocked storage bins in the bed of Frank. Exhausted at 5 am we looked at each other defeated. Neither of us had slept. We wordlessly packed up our new shitty tent and air mattress and got the hell out of there as quickly as we could.
We decided maybe we should rent a trailer. Research commenced and in the span of our 15 hr day we concluded that the math just worked better to buy something small (given our novice towing skills), but nothing was for sale. All the things we see online are already sold. We are literally at our last stop before heading back on the road and we found this t@b. Negotiations started with a disclaimer that if this can’t conclude within an hour we are out. 45 minutes later with 2″ ball hitch off the truck of our sales rep and were under way.
We arrive in Harris Beach, our original final destination on the coast, which is now our first. We are heading back up the coast in reverse order with both sad and happy emotions.
Ringo goes to day careCement greyWorldly possessions Pacific oceanHarris Beach
I just want to start by saying how kind and friendly I have found Montana people to be. Everyone has been so helpful to us.
Circular Story: We leave Billings the 1st time and make it 30 minutes out of town and pull over at a rest area to check some plugs. While we are stopped and in the midst of our crisis (taking everything out of the back to get into engine) a nice woman comes over and precedes to tell us her bus cross country story.
Normally, we love these stories, we have several of our own. However, we aren’t particularly interested at the moment because of our failed attempt to leave Billings. She reminisces a moment too long then leaves. We pack back up the back and determine we should head back to Andy at veewee. We think it’s the air flow meter and he has tracked one down for us.
Trial two fails. It was not the bus flow meter. We circle back to pick up Andy so he can feel it now that she’s acting up. He does a roadside replacement on the ignition coils and Veronica is purring again at 6:30 PM, so we take off to Bozeman.
Remember my phone was busted? The ubreakifix repair guy in bozeman comes in after closing (830 pm) and works until after 10 on my phone so we can leave the next morning… Then, literally stops the phone off at the restaurant he’s recommended. #5stars.
We wake up, spend our am at the hot springs spa. As we leave the spa at 8am, we run into the lady at the rest area who says she was worried about us outside Billings and is glad we’ve made it to Bozeman. Small world.
We keep running down the road and get to a rest area in Taft, MT. We have experienced no issues, and have no second thoughts about stopping. When we come out, the bus won’t start. Literally tried a jump, a roll start, (4 guys out there pushing Veronica) and she won’t crank. We are in a dead zone. No cell. So this nice couple from New Jersey takes our number and copies of our AAA membership and goes to the next exit, and calls AAA for us. But we have no idea if they are actually coming. Then, this nice couple circles back around to let us know they have called (they went out of their way nearly an hour) but it’s still going to be about an hour. They leave and say they are going to call a state trouper to check on us later. We wait about 1.5 hours, and suddenly Veronica cranks. We are in a dead zone with no idea if AAA is actually coming and when? We make the decision to leave and try to get out of the dead zone. We have enough gas to get to the next bus repair shop in Spokane, WA. So, we don’t stop at the next town because we aren’t sure if they can fix her anyway. Next stop euro union.
#don’thydrate #straightthrough #nostopping
We love Veronica, but don’t trust her to get the remaining 750 miles to the coast and certainly not home. Hard decisions may have to be made today. She wouldn’t start after we stopped this evening. Today was stressful on many levels. Several kind people checked on us but it’s been a week and we still are waiting on Veronica.
Bozeman hotspringsAll happy before the breakdown. MTLunch in Missoula Veronica took a 3 hour sabbatical in a cell dead zone. Spokane
Just sitting here at the Yellowstone River Campground waiting on the bus to get her checkup done. Likely we’ll be on the road again but Andy at VeeWee couldn’t replicate the problem. (Veronica is being evasive and not being transparent with her issues.) Recovery is only as good as what she’s willing to put into it.
Follow up, VeeWees got us back on the road. Big thanks to Andy and family. We had a great time but we’re glad to leave. Bozeman or bust…. Literally
Had the best night of sleep so far and the worlds best cup of coffee on our travels at the KOA in Kennebec, SD.
Made it through South Dakota, Wyoming and into Montana
Midway through our portion of MT, Ringo barfed up a hair scrunchy that he attempted to digest unbeknownst to us. #gross
75 miles deep into Montana and the bus started sputtering. After stopping at the Loves in Hardin, MT we figured it was better to be towed to VeeWee’s Air Cooled in Billings from the Loves, rather than from the side of the I90 with people driving 80 mph beside us.
Having Ringo in tow seemed like a bad idea until the tow driver said it was cool for him to ride in the tow truck with us (Ringo was the most comfortable in the air conditioning since leaving AVL). We even had a pet friendly room lined up but passed a Campground (Yellowstone River Campground) literally a football field away from the fixit shop. That’s 100 yards. I’m not sure what that is in meters. But like I said, we’re broke down in Montana USA. So we’re just starting our vacation earlier with a different agenda.
I broke my phone screen, so this post was harder than normal, but the park has WIFI and we prevailed.
I wrote this 10 years ago and found it for this post. It seemed like a good time to post my musing from a decade ago. Maybe I’ll work on a revision now that it’s just us. Seems weird to take a trip without my girls. It’s the first time I’ve ever been the outnumbered gender.
This I believe:
In 2002, a lovely couple sold our family Veronica. It has dawned on me since then that it was the best money we ever spent. She’s a member of the family that we dote over. We’ve had to nurse her back to health on occasion, because she struggles with a little gas problem; if you move her too fast, a little slips out, and that might even cause her to catch on fire …well, just that once.
Veronica is our 1978 VW Westy – more often we call her ‘the bus’
It all started when I came across an …‘older’ picture of my sister (8) and me (3) in a photo op on the top roof of my parent’s hippie van. My sister is in her jazzy bus-appropriate apparel. I matched (of course), and yes, we both matched the VW. It must have been around 1976. From this, an idea started to formulate. I love being in the woods, to smell the earth, walk in the rain, take a dip in a river, and camping under the stars with the sound of nature around me, but I seriously value my sleep. At the time of the great bus idea, our first born was already impeding our sleep schedule therefore; sleeping was a central part of the new camping plan. Thus, I set forth to convince my husband that we (not I) needed a hippie van. Luckily, he didn’t take much convincing. With Veronica, it was love at first sight. We would have probably paid an arm and I leg, but, honestly, I feel like we ripped them off.
On our first trip out, we sat high in those bouncy seats with our 1& ½ year old daughter (Sadira) in the back counting tunnels (9) up to Mt. Pisgah. It was September. That was the first time that we entered the bus nirvana. We left work and the world behind us. It was the way it has been every trip since then, the feeling that all we need in the world fits into veronica. We built a fire and watched the light dance on the leaves above us. Sadira fell right to sleep. George and I stayed up talking by the campfire, sang songs, watched the stars, we even peed in the woods and then made plans where we would go next. The daily mundane had turned into a weekly adventure. The following morning, Sadira even slept in past 7, it was (at that time), a small miracle.
The beauty of Veronica is how she always works mysteriously to get to the core of what I think is important – what I don’t (shamefully) make time for everyday.
Here is what Veronica/the bus has taught/reminded me
● To slow down… considerably, literally. Slowing down let’s you stop along the scenic routes, and the trip always ends up more meaningful. My parents were onto something, getting there IS half the fun – especially since the bus enables a good time, but you certainly don’t make good time.
● To be flexible, to change my plans or NOT make plans – expectations are overrated and not having them is quite liberating.
● To let fate lead you, like when you are out in the middle of nowhere and you bump into old friends – friends you may have just been talking about, well -you’d sure better invite them to dinner. Moments like that can be sacred. Friends become strangers too quickly. Sometimes the friendships you have to work the hardest to keep are the ones that are the most special.
● National & State parks are the American pie – you meet all walks of life visiting them. If you are enjoying the park, you’re all right by me. I’m not too proud of our government expenditures most of the time – but in the park, I am very patriotic.
● To romp these beautiful mountains that I take for granted every day. I should know the swimming holes and sliding rocks and be able to share these treasures with my friends and family. And I have no excuse not to get in the water because there is always an extra change of clothes in the bus.
● To share your food with others because it’s true that food brings people together. For that matter, sometimes a little thing like a salt shaker or a can opener can open the doorway to a new friendship.
● Music is the heartbeat of life and for some reason it is always better outside. You should always carry a music book with a variety of songs on every trip, because I have never met a single person who hates all our campfire songs.
● To live unplugged and only use the Internet to find the local brewery.
● To let the kids get bored, so bored that they remember how to explore and play.
● Veronica brings my family together and allows me to be present in my family by helping me forget the petty bothers of everyday life. She helps me show my kids the how and where I find meaning because trips in the bus are like going to church, I am closer to god in a poo brown bus.
Today’s bullets
We managed to sneak Ringo into a non pet friendly room after legitimately booking a pet room online that wasn’t available. Lesson learned. Call first.
Drove 750 miles/ 14.5 hours
Saw my first legal 80 mph zone, and drove #60mph..
We crossed the Missouri River 4x. Went through Missouri, IA, and half of SD. In those states, we encountered the strange assortment of MO billboards in 2 strict categories: repent and be saved OR adult superstores. ( correlated?) In SD now, and have entered the wall drug signage.
Saw this strange… Jackalope? Last pass on the Missouri river
Austin Semi Sabbatical 