Today began with a splendid start - gorgeous weather, a good night's sleep, aided and abetted by ocean waves crashing on the shore, and Donner 's meeting more dogs, the highlight of the trip for him. Unfortunately, i noticed today that he is beginning to limp due to his spinal problem, and i suspect he will be in a wheelchair within a year. But when that happens, i will deal with it as i have twice before, and move on.
We got a late start on the road because i figured that we only had 200 miles to travel today, five hours on 101, which i have driven three times befire, so i know the road. Leaving at noon, with all the scenic stops along the way, would get me into one of the many camps along the highway by five,
And we did stop at several scenic view stops along the way. One can never tire of seeing those ocean views. They expand the mind as much as staring into a night sky blanketed with stars.
Just as we were heading south ourselves, the day started to go south at one rest stop 1:15. A few minutes after i sent my "As It Is Happening" posting, i realized that i had left my good sunglasses on the wall in the overlook where I had set them down to take the photo. When i went back to retrieve them not five minutes later, they were gone, even though i was only 20 feet away at most. There were only three possible thieves. I suspect it was a 12-year old boy whose mother, after admiring my journey, sympathized with the loss of my glasses by asking him to help me find them, which he did reluctantly. Wait till she finds out he took them. Of course, it was my own fault for leaving them on the walll momentarily, and so i am not going to let it ruin this trip. Fortunately, i have another set with me, but i lost 30 valuable minutes searching for the glasses outside and inside the Defender. When you find something, you have an obligation to make a reasonable effort to find its owner. All this thief had to do was ask out loud if anyone had lost sunglasses and i would have heard him 20 feet away. After hs mother complimented me on my setup. i wish now that I had awarded her with a coveted On The Road patch, and i would have seen those sunglasses in my mailbox when i get home.
They say things happen in threes, and today was proof of thst. After spending 30 minutes searching for the glasses, i concluded that they had been stolen, and moved on. Getting into a camp by 5:00 was more important to me. But no sooner had we moved back onto 101 when we were hit with a construction zone where the state was repainting the road lines. The traffic was backed up going my way for at least five miles, and it took 45 minutes to get through this. When it did finally broke loose at 4:00, i had to start making plans for a camp for the night, even though i was short of my goal.
Determined to make 200 miles today, over the next 90 minutes i passed up camp after camp along the highway. Finally, at six, just as daylight was disappearing over the mountains, i rolled into the Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, where i spent a night in 2014 with Erde, only to be met with a dreaded NO VACANCY sign. The tent section had closed today and all the RV sites were taken. The host suggested i drive six miles south to Tugman State Park, a pleasant camp on a lake, which i did, and got a yurt for the night since it was by then dark and i needed to make up for lost time. I think Donner appreciates being indoors again much more than i do. But we made 190 miles today and that's all i care about now since i have to make San Francisco by Thursday night.
What i find amazing about these trips is that these obstacles ot challenges keep being tossed in my path. When we are at home, we may get one or two every now and then, but on the road, they come every day, sometimes in threes.
Tomorrow we head into northern California, another 200 mikes down the road.
Ed and Donner
