Day 4. We arrived late in Eugene, and had one of those rare motel rooms - in the back -- in the dark -- with no noise -- and we sleep in until after 9 A.M. I figure is was destined to be. 9-9-99 is my birthday, and sleeping until 9 just seemed right. We left all the major roads today and picked Oregon back roads. Kinda set the compass on the right heading and whatever road went that direction we took. The result was slower and far more scenic than the first two days. Oregon farm land in this area is an interesting contrast of open grassy fields and forest. One instant you are in the open fields, the next you are in a tunnel of trees. Finally it is up and over the coastal mountains, and down to the rugged cliffs of the Pacific. We follow directions given us by the Northwest Vintage Broncos club to find an obscure campground and sand dunes along the coast about 10 miles south of Tillamook. As the sun begins making long shadows, we break into miles of open sand fringed with twisted scrub pines. We lock in 4 wheel drive and leave tracks over the dunes. It's windy, and the sand is smooth as far as we can see. We are to meet other Early Broncos here for an event called Son 'o' Beach 4 (SOB4) that may be a record gathering of these 1966-77 work horses. But we are early, and the lack of tracks prove that few are here yet. We head for the top of the largest sand dune overlooking the ocean and stop to breathe the air and take a few photos.
This area is remote. No phones, no cell coverage, no facilities. I do find a Ham 2 meter repeater I can reach in Tillamook, but don't intend to use that except for emergencies. Having sorted out the communications, we then used the remaining light to find a camp and get set up. (You will notice my priorities, which Eileen tells me don't match those of a normal person.) Nonetheless, we find a nice place deep in a grove of trees (important for wind protection) and soon have the tent and essentials in place. The end of a very nice day was having the time to drive into Tillamook and find a restaurant open for a late dinner. Harassing the waiter (in a friendly way) we soon learned that he had moved to Tillamook (population 4400) from San Diego less than a year ago. He couldn't stand the size and hustle of a big place of 3+ million people. Sitting there in a cozy place with good food and friendly chatter, we were hard pressed to disagree with him.
Day 5. Gawd it is peaceful in these trees! No wind at all after the sun sets, and the only alarm was the sun slowly warming our tent
This was a day to explore a back road coastal loop north of us and west of Tillamook. Two places you probably never heard of made an impression on us; Netarts and Cape Meares Lighthouse. Here is why: Netarts is a small town right on the water. You can't tell where a front yard stops and the beach begins, but every back yard is forest. However we walked north on the beach out of "town" (that took about 60 seconds) and soon we found a small stream flowing down out of the forested hills and across the beach. At one point it backed up on itself and formed a shallow pond about 20 feet in diameter. This small body of fresh water was home for a rotating population of about 15 seagulls that were bathing. I mean serious bathing. Dancing and flapping and bobbing and throwing water. Looked like kids at their first slumber party pillow fight. We watched with awe entranced delight for many minutes, and they finally accepted us as "OK". We got close enough for some fine photos (none digital, sorry). Cape Meares Lighthouse (named after a navy seafarer) is the one of the only two 8-sided hand-hewn Fresnel lens lighthouses in the US (the other is in Hawaii). The lighthouse is a measly 40 feet high - not counting the 200 ft cliff it sits on. With its world class, made in Paris, nearly 10 foot tall, Class 1 lens, it produced 160,000 candle power and could be seen over 20 miles at sea. Took three full-time families living on-site to keep it running around the clock. Most impressive! But it is no longer operational. The new lighthouse is a circular lens about 18" tall and 12" in diameter that sits nearby atop a two foot post on the roof a small cinder blockhouse. It produces 2,000,000 candle power 24 hours/day, and no one is there to man it. Aa, the glamor is all gone.
Day 6. Today we visited the new air museum at the WW11 NAS Tillamook blimp site. Hanger
B is 1,072 feet long, 296 feet wide and 192 feet high, and is the largest clear span wooden building in the world.
There are over 30 privately owned and operational WWII vintage aircraft inside. It could hold (for repair) more
than 8 of those gigantic blimps. We walked around all those planes plus the engines, drones, army tents and jeeps
for about an hour. This museum only started in 1995. I think it is going to be a real sleeper. Most interesting
today was the massive temperature change. 85 degrees to 71 degrees in less than 8 minutes!! In less than 1/2 hour,
there was greater than a 40 degree change. In the afternoon, we joined an Early Bronco activity called Son O' Beach
4 (yes, it shortens to SOB4). The large gathering of 1966-77 Broncos was attempting to break a world's record set
by our organization (Early Bronco Registry) three years ago of 167 Early Broncos. While they are not all assembled
in the attached photo, they did make a new record with 201 official vehicles. 
Guess we have a contest going here. Aw well, that's another day. ( Looks like a Water Buffalo feeding on the History Channel! editor )