It was the First of May, and the tulips were blooming in Oregon.
As you know, Bessie has been a major restoration project for Brie and me - the entire cause of this blog - and there were points in the early spring when we were planning backpacking trips that I began to wonder if I made a major mistake by spending so much time and effort working on a trailer.
I'm completely enamored with Bessie herself, Airstreams in general, and the idea of self-sustained freedom on the road (she's my Black Pearl), but there are aspects of trailer camping that I'm not aligned with. I wondered how this would all pan out in reality. In essence, I badly needed to get her out on the road.
We decided to take her out to the coast. One of the driving factors behind our purchase was to have a comfortable place to wait out poor surfing conditions (wind, tide, chop) as well as to have a temporary home if we ever decide to pull the plug on society and wander off into nomadic bliss.
We loaded her up and headed to the sea.
A myriad of stops along the way helped bolster my confidence that everything was running smooth. The hitch was strong, the safety chains were new, the brake and signal lights worked, she towed fine, turns were okay, the brakes were solid, and nothing flew off!
We took the highways and backroads of Oregon farmland as we meandered through the Willamette Valley, over the Coastal mountains, through Tillamook Valley, and up Highway 101.
There's still snow on the Coastal Range mountain tops!
"Go, go, go, go carefully. Go Airstream Driver"
-Gomez, Airstream Driver
Oregon spring skies. Patches of sun...
And patches of rain!
The photo above is of a rainbow, but the camera wouldn't turn on in time. It's in the middle of the photo, shooting straight up like a pillar. If you can't see it, well, it was beautiful. Perhaps now you see why we thought it a good idea to have a "hard shell tent" at the Oregon Coast!
Three hours later, we freaking made it! Is that just happiness and pride or is there a year's worth of blood, sweat, and relief gushing out of this face?
We arrived at dark, unhitched the trailer and went in search of food at 9pm in a town that closes at about that time. We found a pub with decent food, then came back to Bessie for the night. Brie's warming up in front of the heater.
The heater was key. It pumps out enough juice to warm ourselves next to it and it heats up the trailer a noticeable amount. Now it's time to go read in bed.
In the morning, I was the first one up, so I checked out the campsite which was mostly empty. I took a morning stroll and checked out the river and the wild bunnies. How cute are wild bunnies? Very. Way cooler than seeing deer.
(Bunny Law - all dogs remain leashed)
We had campsite number 57. I recommend it.
We both slept very well on that memory foam mattress. No tossing and turning. No rocks under my back, and my sleeping mat didn't deflate. I forgot the blanket though, so we used our sleeping bags.
We took our time and hung out in the morning, trying to figure out what to do for the day. We had a grab-bag of options from previous research but weren't sure what we felt like doing. We actually had spotty 3G coverage - that's surprisingly good for the Oregon Coast - so we're checking tides, weather reports, email...
We decided to have some breakfast. We recorded it on video and had a lot of fun playing around but the files are too big to upload. I'll have to edit them and drop them into a new post.
We decided to trail run Cape Falcon, a beautiful Cape in a State Park south of where we stayed. We wanted to try out our new trail running shoes. Brie and I get along well partly because neither of us like shoes, and these new trail shoes by Merrell incorporate the idea of barefoot running. They're simply a rubber sole that laces to the bottom of your feet. No socks required. They're awesome for trails.
Here's the trail - 5.4 miles roundtrip. We walked for portions - we're just newbies - but we ran a good distance. The forest air was so clean.
The trail was perfect. Trees, ferns, flowers, soft earth, waterfalls, creeks, birds, and sunshine. It was a fantastic way to get to the beach.
Which happens to be one of the best surfing spots in Oregon. The waves were a little mushy today, so we opted for the trail run, but the sets coming in were certainly beautiful. I had to watch a small crew of surfers repeatedly miss pulling into waves before I felt I could move past this viewpoint. Even if the waves are a little weak, it's never a bad day when the sun's out and the surf's clean in Oregon! But the same can be said for a trail run to the point of Cape Falcon!
We saw the beginnings of wild strawberries...
Wild sabretooths...
Wild monkeys...
And even some wild sea lions! A pair of them swam around the rocks below us.
I love this place.
Short Sands, you are one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
On the way back into town, we took advantage of low tide to check out the tidepools of Haystack Rock.
Monster starfish, barnacles, freezing cold water, little hermit crabs, and cute anemones.
Cannon Beach rules!
We returned to the campsite for a good warm shower (not in Bessie).
We changed and then strolled downtown for some noshing.
Downtown Cannon Beach has some very cool buildings.
We found a nice little tapas restaurant with live musicians (guitar, bass, and sax) to set the mood for excellent food and wine.
The plaque below says "Professor Lindsey's Magic Firewood", and that is the future Professor Lindsey at the table.
Sunday morning we strolled back into town for some crepes, smoked mussels, and to check out some of the shops. We bought Letters to Uncle Mike in a cool little bookstore, and a couple toys for our little friends at this little joint...
More sunshine and flowers from a weekend loaded with them.
We hitched Bessie back up to Battlecat and stopped for a picnic at another beach. We just missed the tide, but that was okay. It's always good to be around other surfers, and we did a fair amount of sleuthing for our next strike. Indian Beach is one fantastic place. You are literally living in a postcard when you're on this beach! We had a nice relaxing picnic and nap before our long trek home.
On the way home, we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. By this point we were tired of the camera, so it stayed in the truck, but here's a shot of Bessie in the parking lot!
And then we gassed up and headed home. It was a wonderful trip. Perfect getaway for the maiden voyage.
Here's one last parting shot of Bessie at our weekend campsite.
We are so thankful for the good karma we found all weekend. I hope we are blessed with many more happy memories, and may that happiness find you too.
