So the Journey Begins

23Oct2014

So the journey begins.  We spent our first two days in Florence.  The trip from Bend was relatively uneventful except that I had my first emergency slow down experience.  We headed out in the morning BS the shadows along the Willamette Pass were long and dark.  As pilot at the time, I was focusing strictly on the traffic and staying in my lane.  Mike, as co-pilot is supposed to watch for any hazards.  At one point he began saying “deer” (not as in the affectionate “dear”.)  The louder he said it the more I tried to focus on where they might be.  Regardless, I began t slow down.  When I finally saw the female herd of about 6-7, they were still trying to figure out whether to cross the road or not.  My mind had resigned that if I had to hit one that would just be the way it was.  I actually was able to slow down enough to NOT hit any of the deer, but it was pretty close. I was thoroughly on alert from there on out. 

The Florence RV park, Pacific Pines was a full service RV park but strictly on concrete.  Not much fun for Bear who loves to roll in the grass.   We had a good time at the casino there.  I used 4-$1 dollar bills in the penny slot machines and came out with $6 so I considered it quite a success.

We had some time for Bear at the beach the beginning of the second day but the clouds moved in and it began to drizzle.  It was a good challenge getting hooked up on Wednesday morning in the pouring rain.  Always something new to learn.   Mike started as pilot and by the time we were on the road the rain had really set in.  Little did I know how lucky HE was because by the time it was my turn to drive, gusting winds had set in.  If you’ve never driven a 39-foot motor home with a dingy on the back, let me tell you from personal experience that it was a knuckle-buster… two hours of knuckle-busting...hang on to your hat tension.  I was really happy to get off the main highway.

We finally got to our next destination in Crescent City.  Hiouchi RV resort is about 7 miles off the main highway of 101.  Oh, and by the way, I would like to thank all of you who contributed to the RV Garmin.  We should have listed to its directions rather than the printed map we had.  It was a short-cut, you see, what we had on that paper map.  And now we know why.  There were some testy curves on the road we took and in between some really gorgeous, Redwood  trees growing VERY close to the road.  We made it to the RV park unscathed.  However, next time, we’ll take Garmin’s route even though it might be a little longer!!

Tomorrow will be a new adventure as we head to a park within the redwoods for a 3 day stay.  We were told to be sure to bring our own food since the nearest town is quite a ways away.  So we’ll see what tomorrow brings. 

Until later, best wishes to all my friends at Bend Research.