GMC Motor Home, Travel with Teri and Dan

A Foggy Wet Tuesday

As you have seen by the photos below Teri and I drove up to Astoria today. It is about 70 miles north of where we are parked now, just south of Tillamook. The drive up was not bad, just a bit wet with lots of fog rolling in from the Pacific. Hiway 101 runs right along the Pacific for most of Oregon. We have seen lots of water. Today it was so foggy that we could not see the water on our way up the windy and hilly road. There was not too much traffic as we left here about 830 am. Our first stop was at Stevens Park. An old military base looking out over the Pacific. We went on into Astoria from there and climbed the San Francisco style hilly streets up to the lookout tower that is in the photos below. It was not a hard climb up the 125 feet of spiral steps. There were little landings along the way so one could stop and rest a bit before climbing a few more steps. Was not too crowded on a Tuesday morning. I took the photo of the bridge, with the hillside neighborhood, from up there. Teri and I left there and drove through town on 101. Came back down 101 to the 5 mile bridge and drove over it to the state of Washington. There we stopped and ate the lunch that Teri had packed for us. We sat on the mouth of the Columbia watching the animals, mostly birds, while we ate. Then, we drove back over the bridge and started our ride back down 101. That drive home was the longest 70 miles that I have driven in a while. Traffic everywhere, this was just after lunch. Why were these folks not working? I do not know. Anyway, we got behind lots of slow moving traffic, RV's and log trucks. Speed limit is 55. I doubt we averaged 45 all the way back. At least the fog had lifted and we could look at the ocean. Teri asked if we could pull over in Garibaldi at the Myrtlewood store. I was so glad she did. I needed out of that car. Had to have a break even though we had only 15 more miles to go. I was totally worn out from the slow traffic. Close to 2 hours getting home, 70 miles. What a day. We have found California and Oregon both could take lessons from the midwestern states with regard to their road markings. Road signs telling us where to turn for what ever we are looking for are very poor. Directions are just plain BAD and I forgot the gps this morning. No, we did not get lost but if I had not had Teri with me I might be in Canada now. She is good to help me find the places we want to go and then get out of there when the time comes. So, if you plan to come to the Pacific states that I have mentioned, be sure that you have a good gps with you. Astoria, the poor streets just can not handle the midweek traffic, can't imagine the weekends. And, no signs there either. In Missouri, you know 20 miles ahead that a turn is coming just by looking at the road signs. Not out here. There might be one little sign right at the road and then, there might not be. The sign for Stevens Park was very very poor. We found the place but nearly turned back twice. Oh well, I did not start with the intentions of blasting Oregon for poor road signs. We had a good time and got to see and experience some new things. We rested this afternoon and then cleaned up inside our house. Went down and visited with our full timing friends. We learn a lot from them about rv ing. They have me convinced to join the elks club just for the free overnighting with the coach as we travel. Speaking of elks, do you think I put enough pictures up of them? Ha, did not realize how many pictures I had put up until this evening when I was looking the site over. Sorry about that but these animals really excited me, just like the crab bait stealing seals. I did not get a good picture of the seal. Did not have my camera tonite as we crabbed or I might have gotten one. We will crab again tomorrow evening so I might get one. Wednesday, we do not have a lot of plans other than to sleep in. May run out to the coast for a look at an area we have not seen yet. Will visit with full timers and then head back to visit with Teri's family in the afternoon and do some more crabbing, even though I don't eat the little rascals. Teri is in bed. Think it is time for me to get in there. Sammy is snoring. Thanks for dropping in. Have a good Wednesday. Dan

posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 12:33 AM