We moved again today, leaving the Dexter/Eugene area and heading west to the Oregon coast. We started north on OR-58 until we turned north on I-5. Just a few miles later, we turned west on OR-126 which crosses over the coast range of mountains to Mapleton, on the Siuslaw River. From Mapleton the road is almost dead flat as it follows the north shore of the river all the way to Florence. In Florence we turned south on US-101 for about 2 miles until we turned west and into the Thousand Trails South Jetty Resort across the river from town.
When we left Dexter this morning, the air quality was atrocious due to forest fire smoke being driven south by wind from fires further north in the Cascades. Luck was with us because when we got to South Jetty the air was pretty murky due to smoke from fires south of us being driven by winds north along the coastline. The weather pundits allege the air quality will be better tomorrow. The temperature on the coast is about 20 degrees cooler than in Dexter and we like that. We will be happier when the air goes invisible again.
We got a great spot at South Jetty although there is no sewer hookup. We are scheduled to leave here before the tanks will fill up so we are okay. The water and power work well and we snagged a space in the trees with a little view to the south so our satellite antenna works perfectly. The relatively short trip from Dexter allowed us to get into this first-come first-served campground and we were perfectly situated to take advantage of the large space selection. We may be getting better at this.
A picture is worth a thousand words, particularly when used to show the air quality in Eugene due to the smoke. Click here