9/7/06 Nancy
5 days in Oregon, and we are creeping along like Roadsnails. It’s so beautiful here on the coast that everyplace we find is hard to leave. We’ve been walking on endless long, sandy, sunny beaches, not rocky dramatic painful ones as I thought were here for some reason. Tonight is our first Oregon cloudy night; it might rain. Up until now it’s been sunny every day, sometimes windy, sometimes not. This campground called Cape Lookout is a great one, right on the ocean so we hear it all night, for $16.00, which includes free showers. I’m happy.

However, we’re missing Cookie so much we may head home and get her, then continue. It’s crazy, but it’s getting harder and harder to be without her, now that we’re on our 7th week.

A couple of days ago we found a great little winery a bit inland in a green paradise south of Astoria, (Nehalem Bay Winery) and the very nice folks there also told us a good place to camp “off the grid” – (free, unofficial, no services, which Jack loves) nearby, so we drove up in to the hills and sure enough, a beautiful river, then another, then another; so we settled in for the night in a forest… only to be awakened all night by the very industrial sounds of a little gravel quarry’s trucks, all night. Erghh. We barely slept, but it was a good excuse for napping on the beach the next day.

I was interested in the Tillamook Cheese Factory which quickly dissolved once we saw thousands of RV’s in the 50-acre parking lot; our Tourist Trap Radar went off loudly so we zipped away to less-crowded venues.

9/11 (Jack)

So, we have pulled the plug, temporarily, on the road trip. We decided that we couldn't live without our kitty any longer, plus we need to make some serious changes to the camper to have it more livable. So, we headed inland toward Bend, OR, via the Three sisters. What a beautiful drive. We camped in a nearly deserted natiolnal forest CG the night before last, then last night camped in the desert north of winemucca, NV. I am basking in silence and lack of crowds. I love the ocean and the whole green beautiful coast, but the crowds were gettting to me. I feel much more relaxed. The nearly full moon rose last night, and we watched out the window until we fell asleep as the jackrabbits and coyotes wnet about their business in the desert.

I am posting a few of nancy's photos.
she has made some beautiful images at the beach and at the Cape Meares lighhouse over the last few days.