The last 100

Last year we made the 554 mile drive from South Lake Tahoe to Cape Blanco in two days spending one night in the Walmart in Yreka, CA.  By the time I hit the last 100 miles into Cape Blanco I was ready for a nap, and I wish I would taken one then......this year we saved the last 100 miles for our third day of travel, and I'm so glad we did.  The last 100 miles is essentially a two lane road (one lane each direction) that becomes narrower and narrower as you progress.....it starts out seductively enough with a wide shoulder and wide lanes, but just about the time you begin to get comfortable the squeeze begins.....at one point as it meanders along the Coquille River the lanes get down to just about 9 feet wide with NO shoulder.  The west bound lane (our lane) is next to the river with a 25-50 foot drop in most cases.....you really have to hug the center line....especially pulling a trailer that is 9' wide......last year there was a lot of construction, and we had no idea what we were in for......

......this year we knew what to expect as we departed 'On The River' Golf and RV Resort.....the carved bear at the entrance to the park was the last friendly thing we saw for 100 miles.  We waited until check out time (1100 hours) hoping the rain would stop, and it finally did about 10 minutes before departure.....well we were ready to go, and just fired up the engine and pulled out of the park turning left on Old Highway 99, which would take us to SR 42 and westward to Bandon, OR......just past Coquille, OR we switched to SR 42S which is where the road really begins to narrow....fortunately this section is only about 16 miles long, but it feels like three times that length.....our average speed was about 30-35 mph......

Finally we hit the outskirts of Bandon, and eventually US HWY 101 where we turned south for the final 22 mile jaunt to Cape Blanco......and it felt like a 'jaunt' compared to SR 42S.  I have driven that stretch of road 3 times now, and I'm pretty sure that will be my last adventure on that road.

We arrived at Cape Blanco State Park around 1330 hours........since our host site was still occupied until August 31st we backed into our temporary one night spot just about 200 feet from our permanent site.....like TVC, there are very few sites in this park with a view of the southern sky, but we found this one......

.....and Monday we will move into our permanent site, #3, where we will also be able to get satellite TV........

Within an hour, or so of arriving TLE and I were off for our first walk on 'south' beach (the beach south of the lighthouse).....it was as if we had never left 10 months ago.....

......the residue from Saturday's storm was still evident with heavy cloud cover and pretty brisk winds at sea level.......we walked south along the beach for about 20 minutes then back up the very steep hill to our coach.......around 1630 hours Gary and Angie (hosts from last year) stopped by to say 'HI!'.....they, as last year, will be residing in the site to our driver's side left.  

It's good to be back at one of our 'homes' on the road....a familiar place full of friends and new experiences.  On Monday our friends from our first Amazon adventure back in the fall/winter of 2012, Michael and Liz, will be arriving here to join the lighthouse host fun!

Just walked down to our site and it is ready for us to move in.......looks just the same as when we left it last year, except all the stuff we collected from our forays on the beach are now gone.....:-(

 Our host sign is already up!

 Waiting for the Newell

All our cool stuff from last year is gone!

Thanks for stopping by!