Higher and drier

I love the coast, despite its dampness. It’s cooler in summer, no bugs have been bothering me, and the people have been pleasant enough for me to rethink my aversion to cities.

But it’s time to head to central Oregon to spend the 4th with friends who’ve said something about me driving one of their art cars in the Independence Day parade.

I took US199 out of Crescent City. The scenery was nice, following the Smith River much of the way. Oh look, kayakers. And, to my delight, slow vehicles — like motorhomes — actually used the pullouts to let others by. 

I stopped at one of the Redwood National and State Forest visitor centers to buy some stickers for my collection. And as I drove through Cave Junction I tried to recall which place I had stopped for lunch the last time I was there.

The boondocking area I was heading for is about ten miles up a mountain on a paved — paved?! — Forest Service road. What, no washboard? I had a little excitement/panic/trauma as I approached the left turn off 199. It was just where a passing lane ended. There was no turn lane, so it meant I had to slow down with several vehicles zooming up behind me trying to use the last bit of the passing lane. And there was traffic coming the opposite direction. Brake, swerve into opposite left lane after a truck passed, drive on the wrong side of the road for a few seconds then — ACK, I’m a little past the turnoff — brake harder and make a crazy half-U-turn onto the forest road. Well, that’ll wake you up. And get other drivers swearing.

My campsite is at a modest 3,500 feet (as compared to 15 feet at the coast) but it’s enough to keep the temperature at a tolerable-to-me 85°.  This site will help me adjust to the higher temperatures in central Oregon. Then it’ll be back through Salem and Tillamook to the coast, northward to the Olympic Peninsula, and a ferry to Vancouver Island. That will be my second ride on an auto ferry and the Rolling Steel Tent’s first. And its first time in Canada.

Oh, and there’s just enough cell signal here to post this.