Rolling Down the Road

"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

I mentioned the other day we had a decision to make.  By Thursday we needed to decide what route to take south.  Temperatures during the day were pleasant but the overnight temperatures mixed with the humidity was quite a bit lower than we hoped for.  We knew the trusty weatherman could help us decide so we went to him for his advice. 

We were wondering if the crow perched on this sign to let us know the miles were really “as the crow flies” and not necessarily “as the vehicle drives”.

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What we did discover is that no matter what direction we were heading, we would still have chilly nighttime temperatures until we got much farther south.  If we decided to take the inland route, the temperatures would be about 10 degrees cooler at night than the coastal route.  It was definitely a dilemma.  Thursday arrived on time.  We could put off that decision no longer. 

Leaving the Elks Thursday morning! (Take note of neighbor’s Lazy Daze rig)

So, where did we head?  Well, first stop was the RV dump at the Honeyman State Park.  The Elks in Florence had water and electricity but no dump.  This was just a few miles down the road and in a perfect, easy location to get the task taken care of.

We knew you’d want a picture of us dumping.

Reedsport was 22 miles down the road from The Elks in Florence.  This was the decision location.  We could have turned inland on Hwy 38.  This would have dropped us 65 miles later just south of Sutherlin on I-5.  When we reached that exit ….. we just kept going south on Hwy 101 for another 23 miles.  Next stop was the Mill Casino in Coos Bay.  The coast route won out. However, we still weren’t totally sure when we pulled out in the morning.  We could have turned.  We didn’t.  It was a short drive.  It was definitely a short drive day with a gain of only 46 miles behind us. 

We’re not in a hurry to get any place in particular.  Racing down the I-5 is when we want to get someplace fast.  By taking that route we would be missing a whole lot of scenery.  Besides we’ve done that many, many times.  This was our first plan and there was a reason we had originally decided to travel this way.  We’re really glad we didn’t give in to our other thoughts and head inland.

Honeyman Lake

We're not sure how far or how long we'll stay on this route.  Maybe just as far as Petaluma or maybe not.  The only thing we do know is that we will eventually end up in Parker and Quartzsite, Arizona.  We may also go on into Scottsdale to visit Terry's mom but that just might be the extent of our Arizona travels.  At that point we may turn north again and head up to Lake Meade  -- not been there, done that yet.

The morning drive from Florence to Coos Bay was very, very foggy.  We certainly don’t want to head any farther south without making sure we have the sunshine on our side. We know the drive heading out of Coos Bay towards the California coast has many breathtaking views of the Pacific and we want to be able to see those views.  The fog needs to burn off before we head out on the next leg of our journey.

For the next day or maybe two we figured the Mill Casino in Coos Bay would be our home.  This is our new site.  When we first arrived there were very few RVs around.  This evening it is packed here.  The southward movement is definitely on. 

Do you recognize our neighbor from the Elks picture above?  We brought our neighbor with us.  It’s amazing the people you meet on the road … we've met several today heading in the same direction we are.

It’s a Small World after all!

Remember a couple weeks ago when we struggled with replacing Terry’s laptop.  Well, it seems my laptop is also having issues as the screen continually flickers at times.  The last thing I want to do is replace my computer.  I have a 14” screen and that’s the size I like.  It’s a little more expensive to replace it than the more common 15.6” screen.  Well, it’s a little more expensive to get the features I want on it too.   I really hate the idea of getting a new laptop and all the problems that come with it.

California here we come and we’re hoping for lots of warm sunshine once we get there.

‘Tis life on the road.