The Road has Always Led West

After leaving Portland, we again headed West toward the coast, this time it would via be the dramatic Oregon section of Pacific Highway 101. Our crossing toward the coast took us via the fertile vineyards of McMinville, where we duly sampled a few of the local grapes. After a very scenic morning drive, we again hit the coast and some overdue sunshine. We subsequently decided to celebrate our arrival onto the road that would ultimately take us all the way to San Diego with a seaside, seafood feast. Our first stop on the Oregon coast was at a spacious state wilderness area set just inland separated from the sea, only by a few hundred meters of sand dunes and coastal forests. Chris and I, whilst finishing our fireside night cap were visited by two brazen racoons adamant on foraging for leftovers and leftover trash. It was here also, that two of our bags accidentally fell out the unlocked underneath storage area on our RV en route to the bottle store. After frantic searching along the roadside,  a visit by the local police and ultimately disappointed resignation at having lost many of our belongings, we were surprised the next morning with a knock on the door from a couple who had found the bags strewn along the roadside and had spent the morning wandering the RV parks looking for the owners after discovering our Cruise America receipt inside our bag. This was to be our first taste of Northwest hospitality and honesty.  The next day was filled with a bike ride in and around the town of Newport sampling local candy, conversing with crab fisherman and browsing antique stores before ultimately setting off again down the sparsely populated and dramatically beautiful Oregon coastline.