I knew better, but...

I have some rules.

– Avoid popular tourist destinations on weekends and holidays during prime seasons

– Don’t drive through popular tourist destinations on weekends and holidays during prime seasons

– If I must drive through those places in those seasons, do it very early in the morning

I broke all those rules today.

The Oregon coast is very popular in summer and particularly during long weekends like, oh, today. There are towns and beaches from California to Washington attracting folks from the sweltering inland cities, as well as travelers from other parts of the country (which would include me).

And there I was, in Depoe Bay, on my way to Canada, on a Saturday morning, and I could have been on the road at 5:30 AM. I was awake and dressed and the sky had been getting lighter. The day’s destination — Astoria — was about four hours away. I could be there before all the thousands of visitors between here and there had even had their morning coffee.

But I had a fatal thought: I don’t want to hang around Astoria all day. There’s no rush.

So I farted around until 9:30.

The drive started out with mild frustration. Come on, folks. Keep it moving… Don’t slow down to gawk… Don’t let the curves and cliffs freak you out…

Then there were timid drivers wanting to make left turns into parks, scenic overlooks, resorts,  flea markets, whatever, while a nearly constant stream of cars were coming the other way.



Then there were stretches where the road shoulders were filled with parked cars and those trying to parallel park big vehicles into small places.

Then there were the towns and cities with low speed limits, bad traffic control, and things like food and gas tempting drivers, many of whom had to stop in the middle of the road while they figured out how to get to them. 

Then there were cities that are a pain to drive in at any time or season. Narrow streets, bad light timing, closed lanes, suddenly merging lanes…

Then there are places like Rockaway Beach, all decked out for holiday tourists, all the parking spots taken, and swarms of pedestrians holding up traffic as they shuffle through every intersection.

Oh, and there was the small village of Cloverdale that was about to close 101 — which is their Main Street — for their Independence Day parade.

And, of course, there were huge trailers struggling up modest inclines.

But things got really bad just after Cannon Beach, where Highway 26 from Portland meets US-101. Boom, suddenly twice the traffic. Everything was backed up and getting worse. Google Maps’ red and yellow traffic alert lines showed things were clogged all the way to the edge of the Earth. And my patience was already gone.

This was from later in the day. It was much worse when I was stuck there. Westbound 26 was backed up too.

So I made a last second decision to turn east on 26. At the time, I had no idea how far I would need to go to reach an alternate route north that wasn’t also clogged.  If I had to go as far as Portland, so be it.

After a while I found a place to pull over and consult GPS. There was a thin gray line running through the mountains toward Astoria. And it had a state route number rather than a county or Forest Service designation. Risk it, or go for something larger looking? I would go for it.

The detour

But first I needed to get past the emergency vehicles and a car in a steep ditch. Then I needed gas before heading off into the unknown. Ah, there’s a pump at that general store/restaurant/gift shop. Outrageously priced gas. But what’re you gonna do?

The road turned out to be nicely paved. A little wiggly in stretches, but nothing too bad. I cruised along and eventually reached Astoria, which is also packed with visitors.

I had picked out a streetdocking area on iOverlander. A one-way street on the edge of downtown with unrestricted parking on both sides. But all the spaces were filled with shoppers and diners and whatever else. So I had to do some searching.

I finally found a short dead end near the Columbia River and the docks, with a government building on one side and some sort of ship-related business on the other. The river walk, bicycle path and trolly line are at the end.

I can see part of the infamous Astoria-Meglar bridge from here. Its height scares many people, but I’ve driven it twice. No fear, dudes. I’ll be using it tomorrow. Very early in the morning, even though the route through Washington is further inland and has fewer tourist destinations. I can’t let myself be stupid two days in a row.