—The Real Maiden Voyage —
I did a wonderful first overnight in my new (to me) little Rialta motor home over a month ago. Peter and Mary Gealey, who have a very neatly appointed Vanagon, went for a weekend outing to Westport. We explored the shoreline below the Howard Creek Headlands camp of the Union Landing State Park facelity. One would never know that such wondrous sites existed just below those headlands we drive by so innocently on the way to Usal or Leggett to reach Highway 101. Skip would have loved knowing about the outcrops and waterfalls that abound with flowers and shoreline specimens We went to the newly refurbished and beautified Westtport Hotel and met friends for Saturday night dinner. It makes a great roadhouse and the food is wonderful. We showed our friends the newly "done" rooms upstairs because they had relatives heading this way who would enjoy staying there. All in all a fun way to start my life with my new "home away from home." I thank the Gealeys with gusto for keeping me company on my first time out on the road and overnight. It was great.
Now, I am in Gold Beach, midway through a one week trip with my friend Sandra to visit her son here. We stopped and spent our first night in Trinidad at an apartment I had reserved so that Sandra could wake to the spectacular view of Trinidad Bay. But, alas, as sometimes is the case, the whole bay was socked in with fog you could cut with a knife.
We went with Kathy, Danny and Elena to Larapin's for dinner and spent the next day having breakfast at Kathy's, playing in Arcata with Kathy, meeting Patti for a mid-afternoon salad and spending the night at the Patrick's Point State Park. #104 had an easy walk to facilities and a perfect overlook to the shore which was still socked in. The next morning we did a good tour of other areas in this huge, beautiful park, finishing up with an overlook that miraculously opened up for a yummy view of a south facing point in the shoreline. From there we headed north yesterday, stopping at many of the sights I wanted Sandra to see, such as Big Lagoon, Dry Lagoon and others. We tried finding a place to eat at Klamath but absolutely nothing revealed itself to us, so we drove on to Crescent City where I indulged in the most delicious fish and chips with salad for the chips. We shopped up a storm at a Rite Aid in Brookings, buying everything from nail polish and remover to mini clip-on lights for saving the electricity in the Realta. We bought cleansers, scentless candles, foil and plastic wrapper to answer some of the other forgotten necessities to a little traveling home.
I'm beginning to thoroughly enjoy driving this little vehicle. Actually, "little" is a relative description for a motor home that is just under 22 feet long. I had to tell myself for some weeks as I was trying it out and exercising it in the Fort Bragg area that it is longer than my Dodge Caravan and that I must think "wide" turns if I want to clear things in one go of it. But now I'm experiencing the rewards of those trial runs. It drives like a dream on the highway. Thanks to Steve who urged me to buy this one with it's 2002 VW motor, it has absolutely no problem on hills up or down. Every "savy" male who has advised me has said to use the gears when going downhill to save the brakes which are evidently notorious in all RVs for being rather borderline for the kind of vehicular weight they are serving. I'm doing it and overcoming the fact that I would have to look down to the gearshift on the floor to see the designations. Of course, I'm unwilling to take my eye off the road, so that was bothersome at first until I trained myself to do it by feel instead of sight. — I'm getting there! And I'm feeling quite joyful trucking along out on the road in this lovely, beautifully designed automobile.
Sandra's son, Jesse, lives on a knoll high above Gold beach with a spectacular view of the shoreline as well as the mouth of the Rogue River.
9/30 Continued:
Yesterday afternoon we took a walk high atop Cape Sebastian …… another breathtaking view and tunnel like trail in thick coastal greenery. Jesse's two children, Marisa, (9) and Ben, (6), were always ahead of us, then hiding behind some lovely trunk and popping out with screams of joy if we hadn't discovered them. What a fun and lively little pair. We returned from that tour via a great city park where more calories were burned along with more screams with their friends.
Jesse cooked an organic chicken, made cucumber and tomato salad with yummy fingerling potatoes from his garden. Totally delicious. Jesse may be a judge in his workday hours, but he's a great tour leader, father and cook in his leisure time.
Today he took us to Port Orford where we had a classic brunch spread. I had spinach salad with salmon, Sandra and Marisa had eggs plus the works, Ben had fantastic looking pancakes with blueberries and Jesse had eggs Benedict. The children ran down a path toward the beach when we were done and they discovered the most densely fruited blackberry patch I've ever seen. What a kick to watch Ben chomping them down like a steam engine. We moved on to a museum/historical site of an old coast guard station. Port Orford Heads State Park is well appointed with diorama and model boats from all eras plus real boats and outdoor waterfront sites of the old rail track on which the coast guart used to launch their rescue boats when heading out to save a ships and boats in distress along this rugged shore.
We headed back, some of the time on the old highway as many of you know to be my favorite way to go. Saw Jesse's first tiny abode where he lived without heat but close, close to surfing water. That's obviously what counted most back in those days. Reminds me a lot of Danny when we were first getting to know him. We're back at Jesse and Kelly's on the knoll and so far only talking about leaving. Jesse is making a great smelling soup using the stock from yesterday's chicken and I know Sandra wants to stay ….sooooo … stay I'm sure we will. Then, we're hoping to wind our way down to Harris Beach state park. Just received the "soup's on" signal, so onward, onward. A totally good and satisfactory day was had by all.
