Day 6

We decided that today would be the day that we make it out to the coast. We ate a breakfat high in grease and cholesterol, packed, showered, and said our goodbyes to the little RV park in Randle, WA. We set out towards the coast (after a brief interlude with Brett's impending tummy issues. Yay Pepto Bismal!). Not long after we hit the interstate, we were in Portland, Oregon, navigationg our way blindly through the freeway. Our GPS was performing fairly well until a confusing series of on- and off-ramps, and other assorted exits. We parked the car and turned on the voice prompts, which made it much easier to follow the GPS map (but made Rhonda feel even more redundant).

Our final destination for the day was in Newport, OR. However, we wanted to take the more scenic route along the Oregon coast highway. Our GPS was still firmly steering us along the inland interstate, so we made a couple course corrections which were supposed to get us to the coast sooner. However, we had forgotten that it was a Friday, and everybody and their dog were trying to make it out to the coast as well. We encountered some congestion and slow-moving traffic, but we eventually made our way to Lincoln City, right on the coast at around 4 PM.

We parked the Nissan and got out at a public beach where we had a good stretch, walked in the sand, and frolicked a little in the surf. Brett was the first to wade in, and Rhonda followed for some pictures, but a rogue wave soon had us running as it soaked our shorts. Thank goodness for the armoured camera!

After that respite, we were refreshed enough to make it down to Newport, OR, another 25 miles down the coast. It is an absolutely gorgeous drive, with the surf pounding the beaches and rocky outcroppings on one side of the highway, and temperate rainforest climbing up the hills on the other side.

Newport itself is a town of maybe 10 000 people, with a very quaint small seaside town look and feel. We stopped in at their historic waterfront for some dinner at a seafood restaurant right on the pier. We also saw a wax museum, an undersea show, and a Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum. We're thinking of coming back tomorrow to check these places out. The seafood dinner was delicious, but the icing on the cake was a fabulous berry cobbler we shared for dessert.

By this time, it was about 8 PM, and we still had not gotten ourselves any accomodations. We were both starting to get nervous about the possibility of having to sleep in the truck at a WalMart parking lot, so we headed out of town, south along the coast highway to try and find a campground before we lost daylight.

All of the state campgrounds were full as we drove by them, along with most of the RV parks. We eventually wound up in Florence, OR around 9 PM. It was too late to set up the tent, so we decided to find a hotel room for the night and search for camping accomodations on Saturday. We tried the Best Western, but even with my AMA card, they still wanted $200 US for one night. We had passed a Comfort Inn a while back, so we tried our luck there. We ended up staying there for the night, which cost us only $120 US. At least we had wi-fi now so we could update the blog and check our e-mails and stuff. And maybe since we forgot to turn the tv on, it night still be a little like camping. We drove about 500 km today. And everyone is still in the truck.