Pacific City
With 2 successful trips under our belts we felt it was time
to move a little further out. All of our
initial trips are pretty local, going to RV sites where we can escape quickly
and allow me to work effectively. So our
target was Pacific City. We see this as
a gateway to the mid Oregon coast, unexplored territory for us!
The drive is one we know well, we make a regular pilgrimage
to Pacific City, mainly for Pelican Brewery, but also for the long sandy
beaches and the stunning sunsets. The
100mile drive took 2hrs and 5mins. There
are a couple of climbs as you negotiate the Hwy6 over the Coastal range, but
nothing that is heart stopping.
When we arrived at the RV park, one we have passed many
times in the past and thought it looked fun, tucked under the tall Spruce trees,
the first thing that got our attention was the lack of cell phone signal, no
ATT and no VZW… Not a good start!
The park seems to operate on a principle of giving you a map
and letting you go find a spot, no real guidance, just go work it out. This is
not something I particularly like. The
park is big, with narrow uneven roads, it takes a good 5-7mins to drive from
the entry gate to the back of the park.
Undeterred we drove out to the full hook up sites and started backing
into a site with 1 neighbor. The whole
time I was reversing their dog did not stop barking. That was NOT going to work for us. So we moved on. A nice chap by the name of Rocky pointed out
the site next to theirs was open and was one of the nicer ones, so off we went!
This was a good decision!
The site had tall Spruce trees either side and you could see the sunset
in the distance over the ocean. Good
enough for me! It really took no time to get set up and settle into the
airstream. After the mandatory walk with
the hound we quickly worked out all the best sites are taken as “private
sites”…. hmmmm not impressed. This place
sells itself on the sea views – but you can’t get one because people have
claimed them for the year… After a while exploring we headed back from the damp
sea air and decided to bed in for the
night, we were planning an early start in the morning..
As you recall from the start this post, connectivity was an
issue… we had no ATT or VZW 4G, or 3G.
Not even voice for most of the time.
In a futile attempt, I set up the Pepwave and the new antenna, but all
we got was spotty VZW 3G at best. The
morning was going to be a challenge, but I had a back up plan.
We woke up early and I drove out to the lodge to get my
email synced up from the lodge wifi – thankfully I could access it from the car
as it was a chilly dark morning. Mrs M and the hound caught up with me and
hot-footed it down to Pacific City for some good old “working from the coffee
shop” antics. Not a favorite past time of mine but when needs must and all
that. This worked out great until about 9am when the hotel next door, seemingly
occupied by exclusively by prepubescent screaming kids, flooded into the coffee
shop. Luckily I packed the 4G usb stick,
so I went back out to the car – only to find out I did not have the right
drivers installed on my work laptop… urgh… I was just in range of the coffee
shop wifi so I fixed that pretty quick.
After the mandatory windoze-waltz of driver installations I
rebooted. Then I found out my MS exchange
password expired… after about an hour of calling around it was not juet me but
the whole sales team was impacted! what
I nightmare start to the day…
Fortunately this got rectified before lunch and I got caught up!
Mrs M and the hound came back to the car in time for lunch,
so while the hound napped we got on with the impart part of the day – Fish and
Chips and a growler fill at Pelican Brewery!!!!
This is always such a great place to come to, great beer and great pub
grub. We had been talking all week about
how much we were looking forward to “Fishy Friday”. Alas, today of all days, the food was not up
to its usual standard and left us wholly underwhelmed.
While at the pub I managed to dispense with a few more hours
work and we rounded out the day with a nice long walk on the beach, after being
cooped up in the car for the most of the day a stretch of the legs was welcome!
We headed back to Eva in time to see the sunset and get a
nice fire going, we had a good laugh about the days events and we agreed that a
cell phone booster is now the top priority.
I have to be able to work at full efficiency when away with the
Airstream!
As we burned through the pile of wood we had and ate s`mores,
we built our plan for the morning - sunrise to sunset at the beach! Mrs.M and the hound bedded down early,
exhausted from the sea air, I took the opportunity for some quiet time and some
whiskey.
The next morning rolled around far too quickly, it was clear
I was not driving anywhere! “some
whiskey” apparently was consumed and left me feeling like a bear with a sore head! As I tossed the
car keys to Mrs M the hound and I stretched our paws, shook off some of the
morning funk with a quick stroll around the grassy parts of the RV park and then
we all loaded up pre-sunrise before Luka got one of those cute little bunnies
and made a breakfast sandwich out of it...
Like a bat out of hell Mrs M drove to the beach so she could
“play camera” with the other kids on the beach.
At this point I mad an executive decision.
Coffee, specifically a latte, was needed.
With that in hand, and maybe a toasted ham, egg and cheese
bagel in hand…. Luka and I met Kate on the beach, with the camera glued firmly
to her eye I took the opportunity to climb up part of he dune and start the
daily process of wearing out the hound! Halfway up I get a phone call. Mrs. M
apparently did not get the memo about climbing the dune and was stood at the
bottom looking a little left out, so we trekked back down and head south down
he beach.
The sunrise was stunning, a mostly clear sky, nice chill in
the air. Surfers out enjoying a really nice swell (a swell swell?) Clearly a
fabulous start to the day! After a couple of hours I we decided to head back
for a mid morning nap in the Airstream. It was agreed by all this was a genius
idea! So we bolted back, climbed into
bed and stuck some episodes of coupling on the DVD – we had no TV or radio
reception!! By now I was quite happy to be “off the grid”. It felt really nice knowing that I could not
check sports results or be an internet voyeur catching up with the lives and
times of friends on Facebook…
With nap time behind us we stuff our faces with a couple of
ham sandwiches some French press coffee and headed out for the 2nd
stint of the day. Rather then head south
into Pacific City, we when north about a mile and dropped on to the beach. There was 1 person and their dog, so we
parked up and enjoyed the huge expanse that is the Oregon coast. Waves crashing in, the dog pulling me all
over the place, the wife taking pictures of the whole shindig! We walked about 3 miles and drove about 4
miles on the beach before heading back to the main beach at pacific city.
Well, by now half of Oregon was there… We eventually found a
spot on the beach and parked up. Luka was happy lying in the shade in the sand,
I dug out the binoculars and we all sat watching he surfers. We became distracted by stupid people… let me
just say that a lady in her SUV nearly plowed down another lady that was taking
pictures while someone else had no control over her 2 dogs and was just walking
around looking for one or other of them the whole time she was on the beach… I
was going crazy!
With Sunset just a couple of hours away we grabbed some
firewood and beer and got settled on the beach.
The fire lit up right away, just as Mrs.M’s friend arrived! So it was brats and s`mores with beer and a
sunset all rounded out with some joyful banter. You can’t say fairer than
that!!
You know you are getting old when you are in bed early. I mean showered and under a comforter by 8pm!
We slept like logs and woke up feeling pretty good about life J
Sunday was forecast to be wet, when we woke up we could not
check our smarty phones for the weather, but we could hear the drizzle. With water proofs on and more coffee in our
hands we took a walk. Unfortunately we
were up too early to get through the beach access gate so we headed up to the
Gazebo. What a nice surprise! A large covered space with a bench swing
overlooking the trees and sea. So we sat,
chilled, drank coffee and chatted. All
very civilized!
We managed to get packed up and on the road by 9:30. This part is getting logistically easier, but
is frustrating, we need to stay away longer…
The drive back was fun, road works and the like but we made home in time
for me see Tottenham loose to Stoke before going out to play a game myself!
This trip was another step on the learning curve! The lessons were:
- 3 nights away are better than 2. You have your “set up” night, your “pack up”
night and the one inbetween. That middle
night is the magic one. The one you get
to chill and enjoy Airstreaming.
- Cell phones. This is
a curse and has to be resolved ASAP.
Lots of research to do. In short
a booster will be acquired and installed, hopefully for the next trip.
- Neighbors, just like at home, they can make and break your
experience. I am very glad we moved
sites, non stop barking is not something I can deal with! Luka barks on average twice a week…
- Sewer hook ups: Desirable but not essential. We elected to stay at a site without one and
it worked out fine J
Unfortunately Eva is docked on the driveway happily winterized until Christmas, just no time to get away with the seasonal festi
