#28 Coveys Great Adventure - September 2016 – Ely, John Day, Boring, Tillamook, Nehalem

September 2016 – Ely, John Day, Boring, Tillamook, Nehalem

As Johnny Cash so accurately said, “Just can't wait to get on the road again.” We finally are traveling, again. It feels so good to see the country roll by, to watch the ever-changing scenery through the windshield.

We left Hurricane, Utah on the 19^th headed northwest our annual camp host stint in Nehalem, Oregon. It’s roughly 1,200 miles and we had plenty of time, so we planned to stop in John Day and Portland, Oregon to do some sightseeing and generally kick back. We also decided to limit the miles we drove per day to 300. On the way to St. George I drove 5-600 miles each day and that certainly wasn’t any fun.

Cave Lake State Park, Ely Nevada

Cave Lake State Park near Ely, Nevada was our first stop. We have been in a number of campgrounds that we were told we were too big to fit, so had gotten a little cocky about our docking skills. Well, we should have listened this time. We really had no business in this campground. I scratched the side of the coach on some trees and we had to unhook the car and dolly to be able to turn around. The ranger suggested that the sites in the other campground were larger, but the dirt road leading to it was way to rough for our coach. We spent the night in one of the parking areas below the dam. It was a beautiful setting and we had the whole place to ourselves.

I have wanted to visit John Day, Oregon for some time. I planned to stop there on two different motorcycle trips but weather problems and schedule issues forced route changes that bypassed it on both trips. Last year we planned to pass through John Day on our way to Nehalem, but the huge fires in central and eastern Oregon closed the roads, forcing us to take a more southerly route. This year we once again plotted a course across Oregon via US 26 through John Day, and we made it.

Ely to John Day is over 500 miles so we stopped overnight at Rock Creek County Park in Twin Falls, Idaho, roughly half way. Rock Creek Park was a little tight for our coach, but since half the sites were empty we had plenty of room to spread out. The park setting is quite attractive, too. It’s at the bottom of a small canyon on the banks of a river that passes right through town. Despite being on a main road close to the center of town it was very quiet with lots of grass to walk the dogs. Being down in the canyon, though, killed any TV reception.

First fire in months!

Twin Falls to John Day is just 250 miles, but we didn’t see any reason to dawdle in the morning and got an early start. That turned out to be fortunate because we arrived at Clyde Holliday State Park in time to get one of the last camp sites. This park doesn’t take reservations, so the sites are first come, first served. CHSP turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Although it has just 31 campsites, most of them are huge and partially shaded. Our site must have been almost a quarter of an acre. We planned to stay two nights and stayed four. The firewood was the cheapest I’ve ever seen and we took advantage of it with big fires every night. The dogs really liked the trail along the river that looped by a small pasture where a few cows grazed. Schroeder thinks cows are the most interesting creatures he’s ever seen.

John Day is a great little town with quite a history and some pretty interesting things to see. The Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Center was one of those serendipitous finds that we occasionally discover. We had no idea about the vital roll that Chinese immigrants played in

the development of central Oregon and the rest of the Northwest. We spent an hour at the interpretive center and then took the tour of the Kam Wah Chung site, the wonderfully preserved home, store and pharmacy where Ing Hay and Lung On lived and worked for over half a century. It is a fascinating place and a great story; don’t miss it if you pass through this area.

Kam Wah Chung notwithstanding, John Day is world renown for the extensive fossil beds that exist throughout the area. We spent a day driving out to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, about 50 miles from town. The visitor center itself was worth the trip, which was good because it was raining and I am still limited in how far I can walk comfortably. We didn’t get to the fossil beds themselves, but the scenery and the displays and video at the visitor center were quite interesting. Unfortunately the rain made it tough to get good pictures, too.

Striking colors near the fossil beds

Rather than just return the same way we arrived, we decided to see some of the country. Leaving the visitor center we continued north on OR 19 to Kimberly where a single small market marked the intersection of OR 402. We followed 402 east to Long Creek where it meets US 395 to return to John Day. It’s about 30 miles from Clyde Holliday to the fossil beds visitor center, but we managed to cover almost 90 miles returning. OR 402 roughly follows the North Fork of the John Day River. Ranches and farms line the valleys along the river as it meanders through gentle valleys. It is one of the most peaceful areas I can remember seeing in quite awhile. We really look forward to exploring the areas we stay in. I think we enjoyed the ride home more than the fossil beds.

We haven’t seen a real city in several months, so we decided to spend a couple of days in Portland. Barton State Park in Boring (really), Oregon turned out to be the right combination of proximity and quiet countryside. It is an easy 235 miles from John Day and just 20 miles or so from the center of Portland. We spent the first day in Clackamas, a suburb southwest of Portland restocking at Trader Joe’s, WinCo and Walmart. We hadn’t seen a Trader Joe’s since June and really missed them.

Kayeanne and I spent a week in Portland about 30 years ago and wanted to revisit one of the riverfront areas that we both remembered fondly, especially a really great bookstore. The riverfront was still there but the whole area had been “revitalized” into expensive condos and high end hotels. We still enjoyed ourselves, walking around and having lunch at a Japanese restaurant. Portland remains high on our list of places to return to. It has a unique flavor that is tough to describe but nice to experience.

From Barton Park we headed to Devil’s Lake State Park in Lincoln City on the central coast. We pulled into the park and had immediate misgivings when the camp host looked at our coach and started shaking his head. I soon learned why. The park roads were as tight as any we've seen and large trees were everywhere. I can deal with narrow roads and tight campsites, but I need swing clearance to make the sharp turns needed to "dock" the coach. The first site we tried was clearly not going to work, so we moved to another section of the park where the sites were purportedly bigger. After much backing and filling we did squeeze into a site, but it was so tight that there was no space for the dolly or the car. Just walking around the coach required pushing through brush. The hassle just wasn’t worth it, so we pulled out and headed north. Calls to Cape Lookout State Park to check space availability went unanswered, then Kayeanne suggested that we try Tillamook-Bay City RV Park where we stayed for a couple of weeks last year. They had space so we spent two nights enjoying cable TV, while the dogs were very pleased to rediscover the Kilchis Point Preserve Trail.

On Friday the 30^th we pulled into site A2 at Nehalem Bay State Park for our third year of camp hosting at this wonderful campground right on the ocean.

More soon,

Bob