Today we pulled out of our shady camp spot at South Jetty RV and hit the road going north. Since I had such a nice time dumping the waste tanks and disconnecting the water supplies yesterday, we were able to get out of town pretty quickly. By 11:00 we were on the road despite doing a monthly tire air pressure check and tire inflation with our puny compressor.
We turned north on 101 and passed through Florence toward Heceta Head which is a tiny little pimple on an otherwise straight coastline. We stopped by the Heceta lighthouse a couple days ago for an admiring view but passed right by it today. There are quite a few construction projects allegedly in progress on 101 although it was tough to find any workers inside the long, flagman-controlled sections where the signs indicated there was work. Happily, the views when stopped were great and delays were short.
We continued through towns with funny names like Yachats and Waldport, crossing many bridges over a bunch of rivers and creeks pouring into the Pacific. North of Yachats, the road gets pretty straight without the squirrelly, bluff-side passages encountered a bit south. After about an hour and a quarter, we drove into South Beach, a tiny dot on the map south of Newport, OR. We pulled into another TT resort named Whaler’s Rest here and promptly set up our stuff.
By about 2:00 PM, we were done with lunch and decided to take a spin. Just south of the camp spot on the other side of 101 there is a gorgeous beach side turnout at a place called Seal Rock. I didn’t spot any seals but Peggy was treated to a amazing demonstration of a gray whale breaching and flopping around offshore. The wave action visible from the turnout is amazing with white foam in all directions. Many sea birds find this place homey because they can be spotted all over the cliffs and offshore rock projections.
We ended up the day by visiting a local Safeway store for re-supply before heading back to Whaler’s Rest. We were greeted at the gate by a resort employee who we got to unlock the cable TV jack at our site. There are a bunch of trees in the campground which make reception with our satellite dish impossible. The employee was very nice but not altogether squared away on his math because he charged us $3 too little because we are such nice folks. That may be a trademark trait around here because we passed a place yesterday where the proprietor was selling bundles of firewood for $4 or $12 for 3. The quantity discount is not available in that particular spot although we did note folks in town selling firewood for $4 a bundle but $10 for 3. There is apparently no firewood regulatory agency controlling prices.
For a couple pix, click here