On The Road 2012
wednesday sept 5 2012
four winds motel depoe bay oregon
- jumper cables
after a leisurely 4 days camping at hells gate on the trinity river i packed up monday morning sept 3 eager to hit the road again - i turned the ignition key, nothing, battery dead from charging my various devices in the cigarette lighter i presume - none of the other 4 campers at hells gate had jumper cables - my nearest neighbor was kyle (also from carlotta) who kindly gave me a ride in his pickup to the next campground a mile down the highway where our campground host kenny was camped
kyle had a wife and about a half-dozen young kids with him who frolicked all day in the shallow river at the 'beach' while i swam in the deeper pools just downstream - surprisingly, kenny, our amiable campground host, didn't have jumper cables, neither did any of the other half dozen campers at forest glen - dread was setting in - but just then i spotted a couple set to leave in a white pickup and bingo we had jumper cables - relieved, i was soon on my way down hwy 36 to the sea - later that day i stopped at a K-Mart in eureka and bought 16' heavy-duty jumper cables on sale at $20, half price
- the lost coast
the weather was very different when i got to hwy 101 and the coast - fog with low 60's to mid 60's temperatures - after the trauma of almost getting stuck with a dead car in a remote place and the bad weather i decided to forgo my plan to drive the lost coast from ferndale to petrolia - too isolated for car trouble - i did check out ferndale which is a delightful old victorian town about 5 miles off hwy 101 - i had driven the isolated lost coast road twice before on trips to san francisco and the healdsburg guitar festival in santa rosa - its one of the great drives on the west coast going by cape mendocino (not related to the town or county of the same name farther south) - its the last undeveloped coastline in california
- arcata CA
i decided to treat myself to a motel 6 in arcata CA for 2 reasons, the dismal weather, and kenny had told me about eccentric arcata, a small university town just off hwy 101 - i've driven past it dozens of times on other trips and never stopped - the town has a large square (pictured above) centered in the 10-square block downtown, much like a mexican pueblo - a gathering place for all from morning to night
i liked arcata so much i went back the next morning for coffee at the brio cafe, filled with friendly people, young, eccentric, collegiate, grizzled - even the old people looked interesting and eccentric - arcata is one of those rare american towns, like port townsend, missoula, boulder, austin, where you might actually want to live
the arcata motel 6 had a pool so despite the chilly temperatures i swam and sat by the pool most of the afternoon - watching CNN that night i realized that the democratic convention was starting the next night - that and the foggy cool weather would nix any camping for the remainder of the trip
- the redwoods
i got a typical early start the next morning, hazardous driving in the persistent fog - i decided to meander slowly up the california, oregon coast - i stopped at the lady bird johnson redwood grove, 1200' feet up, above the fog, for a morning walk thru these magnificent trees - i also stopped at many of the roadside attractions on hwy 101, especially the ones with tourist knickknacks made of wood since they often sold local wood, redwood and myrtlewood mostly
- michelle & the democratic convention
by the time i got to gold beach oregon in the mid-afternoon after the many stops i decided to splurge, treat myself to deluxe acommodation and watch the first night of the democratic convention on CNN - i doubled my usual motel budget of under $50 (with the seniors discount motel 6's are anywhere from $35 to $50 depending on location) - i checked into the
gold beach resort with a balcony right on the ocean and a large-screen LCD TV (motel 6's cut costs with old cathode-ray TVs) -
michelle obama gave an inspiring speech the first night of the convention - as did many others, mostly sincere non-politicans, with a good american story to tell
- oregon wild woods
lounging around that afternoon in my deluxe ocean-front suite i remembered that one of my sources for luthier woods was based in gold beach - i had ordered 3 sets of port orford cedar in 2008 from oregon wild woods, the first set used on sue vigneux's guitar in 2010 - port orford cedar is not actually a cedar but a cypress - as a luthier wood its indistinguishable from spruce except in fragrance (somewhat like yellow cedar, also a true cypress) - it only grows in a narrow range in southern coastal oregon and northern california - it makes a fine guitar soundboard, some claim the best, and i was keen to get some more, its hard to come by - i made arrangements to visit them the next morning at their place 9 miles south of gold beach
dana osman greeted mt at 9am the next morning at his place high on a ridge above the pacific with a panoramic view of the rugged oregon coast, probably at its most scenic in this area - unfortunately all i saw was white because of the fog - dana turned out to be an interesting guy my age - he and his wife CJ ran the business out of their hand-built house with the wood stocked in the large double garage - another building had a woodworking shop with a major resaw and other tools for turning trees into luthier woods
its always nice to meet the people you do business with in person especially in a geographically dispersed field such as luthiery - its even nicer to be able to handpick your wood - i bought $400 worth, 3 sets of port orford cedar, a redwood top, an unusual set of curly douglas fir back and sides, and a set of myrtlewood back and sides - myrtlewood also grows in a narrow coastal band centered on this area of the oregon and california coast - its related to the bay leaf tree and also the laurel trees you see shading mexican town squares
- florence oregon
i still hadn't given up on camping and was hoping to camp at least at the hwy 105 graylands/westport area of the washington coast (one of the few areas i had'nt visited in washington yet) - i also wanted to make the trip to neah bay, the northwest tip of the olympic penninsula, home to the makah whaling tribe who apparently have few genetic or cultural links to other indigenous people in north america
after stopping and checking out a half-dozen or more campgrounds along the mid-oregon coast, now with plenty of post-labor day vacancies, the cold foggy conditions finally got the best of my camping fever - also the sites were mostly $25/night and were crammed tightly together, unlike the spacious private sites at the remote california USFS campgrounds - i knew my camping trip was over - and i was keen to hear bill clinton speak at the democratic convention that night - one of the few things i miss, not having a TV, is US politics especially around election time
so i resolved to motel-it again in lincoln city oregon and make the 8-hour drive back home the next day in one shot - this would conveniently get me through portland mid-morning and seattle early afternoon missing the worst of the traffic - on the way to lincoln city i stopped for a beer and french-fry lunch at the port of florence, possibly the nicest town on the central oregon coast
- lincoln city motel then home
my trusty motel 6 handbook had told me that lincoln city had one but for some reason i stopped short of there at depoe bay at the four winds motel - why i don't know, much inferior to motel 6 standards for the same price - clinton's speech was phenomenal that night - moving and chock-full of content - if you haven't seen it its worth watching again on youtube
the drive home was uneventful, a relief to get some warmer weather inland - and despite the optimal times of day, traffic through portland and seattle (on the 205 and 405 bypasses) was harrowing, 60mph on a 'full' freeway, seemingly no room for any other cars
the turban'd canada customs agent at peace arch was welcoming and waived me through without questioning my odd purchase of raw oregon wood
