Kula Boy's Great Alaskan Adventure: Traveling Through Oregon

Sunday – May 1, 2011 – Woke up this morning about 7:00 and it was really cold. First morning we had to turn the heaters on. Kenny took Kula for a nice long walk. He found out that the Supercross races from the night before in Salt Lake City were being shown on TV. So while I got ready and worked on our blog, he watch them. It was a leisurely morning getting out of Canyonville. We decided to take Hwy. 42 over to the coast. It was a beautiful drive, lilac bushes and blooming tulips lined the highway. We drove through beautiful farmland and saw a lot of nice looking campgrounds along the Coquille River. The cows, goats, horses and sheep were lying and grazing out in the pastures. All the while listening to some of our favorite country singers…Miranda Lambert, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland and Toby Keith. All of a sudden we were back up in the forest and pine trees. We crossed over the river several times as we paralleled it. We finally reached the Oregon coast at Coos Bay at Hwy. 101. We were enjoying the drive so much, we forgot to stop for breakfast. So we drove up the highway about another hour and stopped in Florence. We had a craving for clam chowder and remembered a restaurant we had been to a few years ago. So, we found a place to park the motorhome (not easy) and went to the restaurant. After we sat down and looked at the menu, we realized it was not the same and must have changed owners. We ended up having lunch there anyway and it was okay, but the clam chowder was nothing like it use to be.

We arrived in Newport at around 3:30. We set up and went for a drive around this very beachy town. It even has “two” lighthouses. We went down to the Historic Bayfront and walked around. Shrimp and fishing boats lined the wharf. We found a candy store with salt water taffy. They must have had 50 flavors. Of course, I got a few pieces of root beer, lemon and peanut butter…yummy! Then, we went over to Nye Beach where we heard had the “best” clam chowder in town. Found a place where we could park the jeep and keep an eye on Kula and went in to the “Chowder Bowl” and had more clam chowder for dinner and yes it was very good.

We drove back to the motorhome and turned the TV on to watch Desperate Housewives, only to find out that the President was getting ready to have a press conference and it was going to be about national security. After waiting an hour and listening to all of the speculation, he finally came out and announced that “Osama Bin Laden” was killed. All these years later, they finally got him and supposedly, he was living in that house in Pakistan for over five years. Way to go US Navy Seals!!!! They are very brave men.

We got a call today from Ginger.Dillon. They were also on the road traveling back to California from Montana in their “new” truck. Congratulations Scott!!! They were in Montana for Spring break. Sure hope they had a great time!