Day 7. Today was different than any other so far. We woke up and it was warm and dry! Every other morning we have had damp to wet everything from that marine air. Today was strange. Quiet, bone dry, warm. Well, that only lasted a short while. We were seeing the beginning stage of a Chinook (Santa Ana if you live in southern CA). Soon it was windy, I mean WINDY, and climbing quickly to the mid and high 90's. We bid farewell to our new Bronco friends and left to drive the coast of Oregon south, beginning our drive home. (We need to add here that the SOB4 folks gave prizes for the Bronco comming the farthest distance. One from TN won at 2481 miles, soundly beating our personal 1521 miles.) Driving at a very leisurely pace, we saw things like the sign for the 45th parallel, watched whales spout at Boiler Bay - in 98.6 degress temperature (Our Bronco was the only shade), and at 4 PM watched our digital thermometer drop from 98 to 73 degrees as fast as we turn a corner. At 4:50 PM is was down to 53 degrees. The Chinook quit and marine air returned - just that fast. We were facinated, and happy. The attached photo is of a lighthouse keeper's home taken just as the marine fog hit the coast, pushing the hot air away
Oh, we also toured the famuous Sea Lion Caves, and got some video of photos of them doing interesting things . . . Tonight we are back in civilization in Florence, OR with electricity and phones. Feels strange, but we will figure it out.
Day 8. Well, you can see that today was a leisurely day. We spent until lunch in Florence
OR. It's quaint "old town" district is located right on a river and looks at a beautiful concrete and
steel drawbridge for highway 101. Depending on Mother Nature, the drawbridge is either glowing in the sun against
a backdrop of green forest, or dimly visable shades of grey seen through a veil of fog. The old town is several
blocks of 100 year old buildings that now have shops and restaurants. We enjoyed a fine fresh halibut dinner Sunday
night, and today found one gift shop - no, no - at their prices this was a fine art saloon, that had so many things
we wanted we just couldn't choose one over another. I figure that indecision saved us at least $5,000. I may see
if I can bring this fine management tool back to work with me. The rest of the day was spent at speeds usually
from 30 to 50 mph, unless we were stopped. The Oregon coast has two things in abundance; lighthouses and sea lions.
You know we saw the Sea Lion Cave yesterday with its few tens of sea lions. Well, it is a piker! Today we were
on a small back road right on the coast and were stopped by the sounds of sea lions barking. Many sea lions! On
some slightly off-shore rocky islands were hundreds, perhaps close to 1,000. And these were families of sea lions
having social discussions while the kids were playing in the surf. We enjoyed watching them for many minutes. As
for light houses, we keep adding them to our stops. A photo is attached of the Coquille River lighthouse (Bandon,
OR) seen in the twilight of the day.
Oh, we are obliged to give our daily temperature report. In contrast to previous announcements, we must report
today was pleasant 63 degrees. That is 63 in the morning, 63 at noon, 63 at the water, 63 in the forest, 63 at
night. It was 63 degrees today.
Eileen tells me this is Day 9 of the trip. Think I called the last email report Day 7. I'm loosing track of the days. That's good. Today was both misty and interesting. We started by driving just underneath a fog blanket to the western-most tip of the 48 states, and to the Cape Blanco lighthouse. The fog layer often left the bottom of the lighthouse clear, but the top of the tower obscured. This is an operating lighthouse, and that seems a bad idea. Anyway, we spent some time getting photos and video as the light beam swept through the fog, making a slice of butter yellow light in the gray. We departed pavement twice today. First to take a climb up the China Mountain Road to get 1,000 feet above the ocean and into clear air. From that vantage point we could look down upon a world of forested green mountains rising out of lumpy cotton that went west to the end of the world. The second dirt trail we drove late in the day clung to cliffs about 200 near-vertical feet above the surf. We sure concentrated to be sure we didn't drift off the edge of this path. Off-roading here offered two interesting surprises. (1) In the middle of a forest, we past an intersecting road from the right, and to the left a stange paved promintory overlooking the Klamath River and guarded by two big brown bear statues standing atop low walls. Very romanesque! It took a little poking around to discover that we were standing on what once had been Highway 101 and its bridge crossing the Klamath. A flash flood in 1964 took away both the bridge and most of the nearby town of Klamath. Neither recovered. (2) Some miles farther while clinging to the cliff-side on our excuse for a road, we saw an old weathered farm building nearly hidden in trees just below us. There was barely room for the building, set aside any farming or live stock. 'Why was it built there? Amazingly, a sign was posted with the answer. These were really two WWII cinder block buildings disguised as farm buildings whether seen from the air or the ocean. Why? They housed one of the early search radars of the war, and scanned the sea for a feared enemy invasion. The most unbelievable part of the trip I left for last. As we dropped off China Mtn and back into the misty forest, the temperature began to climb. Soon it was both humid and hot, far more tropical than marine. The trees and undergrowth were so thick you could see only a few feet into the vegatation. We pushed on through this jungle for a few miles, thinking how very strange it all was. Something finally made us stop. As I shut the engine off, we had that uncomfortable feeling you get when you are sure something is looking at you. I had walked only a few feet away from the Bronco before I turned and saw IT with my own eyes. You wouldn't believe me if I hadn't snapped a quick photo before we blasted out of there. The photo is attached - for proof positive of things hiding in Oregon that you don't want to meet.
