#36 – Coveys Great Adventure – May 2017 – Winchester Bay, OR

Umpqua River jetty. Sunshine at last!

May 2017 – Winchester Bay, OR

Lake Mary within Umpqua
Lighthouse State Park

The Oregon coast is wet. Everyone knows that, of course, otherwise half of California would move here. But until you actually live on the coast for awhile

you don’t really understand just how wet it is. I think we had four dry days in April. May started out the same way, but then it finally started to dry out.

As I said last month, the host site near the workshop where we moved at the end of April is open, with a lawn and flowers. It was a welcome change from the dense tree cover at site 40. It was especially nice once the weather cleared and the sun came out for several days in a row. Near the end of the month we actually washed the coach and it looked great for several days.

We hadn’t seen a city since passing through Boise in mid-March. We also hadn’t been to a Trader Joe’s since Tucson and badly needed to restock. Clearly, it was time to head to Eugene. We decided to leave the coach in Winchester Bay and spend the night at a motel. Kayeanne hadn’t seen a bathtub in awhile and I wanted some Asian food. A few days before we left, Liesa called. She and a friend were visiting folks in Portland and we quickly figured out that they could meet us in Eugene, too. And that’s what we did. The dogs don’t like motels very much but they are happy to get to sniff so many new places and explore new parks.

Route 38 follows the Umpqua River and connects Reedsport with Eugene. Like many of the roads that join the coast to the interior it is very scenic. A few miles east of Reedsport it passes through the Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area. Most of the time when we see “wildlife viewing area” signs, all we see are the signs: the wildlife are invariably absent. Well, not this time! Several groups of elk were grazing in the extensive marshland that stretches along the highway. Our new camera has a long zoom lens that we put to good use. It was a real treat to actually see these majestic animals in a setting where they were obviously comfortable.

Now that the weather is more pleasant we are spreading out a little to explore the surrounding areas.  Coos Bay is about 20 miles or so south of Winchester Bay. The commercial waterfront is slowly changing to more visitor-oriented activities. Local museums like the one in Coos Bay are something we always look forward to visiting. The exhibits really capture the stories of the people that first settled this area and the lives that they made for themselves and their families. Logging, fishing and farming were the main industries along the central coast for over 100 years. 

Large tug being scrapped

Logging and

commercial fishing have been in decline for 40 years as the resources have been depleted. Some still survive, but everywhere you can see the abandoned piers and shuttered mills that mark the decline. Tourism has certainly helped fill the gap but it doesn’t provide the jobs and the incomes that built the towns along this coast.

At the end of May we packed up and moved back down the hill to site 40. It was an easy move and we quickly set up in familiar surroundings. We miss the sunshine, but are glad to be back in the campground with people coming and going all the time. The workshop site was great but it did get pretty quiet up there at night.

More soon,

Bob