More Dunning and Relaxing

Heading from Oregon back to California has been a very slow trip. And we’ve been doing even more relaxing.

We were going to make the trip in two days in order to spend some time with my kids, but that didn’t work out, so we’re taking a full week. Although we’re limited on what we can do and see because we’re pulling the RZR on a trailer, not the Jeep. Which also makes it trickier to find a place to stay because we’re too long for most of the state parks in the area.

The first night, we stayed on Highway 101 just outside of Gold Beach, Oregon. Oregon has many scenic overlooks and pull outs, so we pulled into a large one just to get out and take a walk along the beach. It was obvious there was another rig there that was going to spend the night, and there weren’t any no-parking signs, so I convinced Tom to Just spend the night there as well. So we did.  And we had a couple more neighbors after that. And we enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the ocean. What a wonderful place to wake up and see the ocean right outside our front door.

We moseyed down the road a bit and there were all kinds of day use parks. Oregon is even kind enough to post on their signs if the sites are not big enough for a trailer turnaround. So we stopped at a few. Had breakfast at one and hiked around a couple of them. It was grey and drizzly, but the views were still spectacular.

Then we crossed into California. Yes, the ocean was just as magnificent, but now all the turnouts were plastered with no-overnight parking signs. We felt so welcome – not! 

So I began to look for a place to stay and my fingers came across a recreation area campground that had off-road access to dune riding on the beach. I could hardly believe the good luck. We already had the off-road vehicle with us, so we might as well use it some more! (Even if we did have to wear helmets!)

So we stayed two nights at Samoa Dunes Recreation Area Campsite. Even though there were no hookups and we were camped on a parking lot, we had a great time. We got to do some exploring and some riding (although the dunes weren’t much – especially having just been in the Oregon dunes) and we had enough down time for me to make another video and for Tom to work on a project.

We also did quite a bit of visiting! We had a very friendly neighbor from Redding and Tom even had an old friend and colleague come out to visit us!

That’s what you gotta love about social media. Tom posted where we were on facebook, and Tom D just happened so see it and know exactly where Samoa was. He was visiting his daughter who lives right across the bay. So that was fun catching up.

By now we are seeing how hot it is in the valley that we are heading to and are in no hurry to arrive sooner than we need to. Although we are anxious to get our Jeep back. But we still have a few days before our timeline commitment, so we plan on soaking up as much of this cool marine air as possible.

Happy Travels,

Peace & Love, Joy