15th - 17th January 1998

Thursday 15th January
It poured with rain all night and was still raining this morning.  We left at about 6:30am and amid driving rain and fog found our way onto the Golden Gate Bridge and out of SF.  The weather was really appalling and wasn't boding well for our journey up the coast.  After about an hour and half we stopped at an info centre.  It wasn't open yet as it was only 8:30am so we did our washing up and washed ourselves and waited for the centre to open.  When it did we went in and enquired about the road conditions and weather.  The man was very discouraging and basically just said "storms" not a positive word was uttered.  We drove on and soon the rain stopped at the "drive-thru tree" but unfortunately we couldn't as Calvin is too big.  We then went on to the "Avenue of the Giants".  This was stunning - huge, straight as a die, trees that were hundreds even thousands of years old.  It reminded us both of Vancouver Island and made me feel quite homesick (for Tofino).  We carried on up the 101, through Eureka and are now in a (fee paying) lay-by with hundreds of RVs.  We're supposed to pay $5 but we haven't seen that sign!  We ate chicken and garlic Rice-A-Roni - quite gourmet!  And now we are killing time before bed.

Friday 16th January
Well, the beach front situation turned out to be not as good as we thought.  We got up really early but poor old Calvin was cold, damp and wet and wouldn't start.  We walked to the nearby information centre but it was cold and there were no phones so we walked back.  We got soaked again!  There was a guy still in his pick-up when we got back and we asked him to help.  He had a look but admitted he didn't really know what he was doing but he let us use his cell-phone to call AAA.
We settled down to breakfast and then the tow truck arrived during our porridge!  He towed us 80 miles to the border of Oregon - Crescent City.  Most of the garages were full but we found one and they replaced our distributor cap and rotor without much consultation with us.  We then were on our way again.  It wasn't as pretty anymore - we were towed through the Redwood National Park.  We made our way up the Oregon coast which is supposed to be really beautiful but unfortunately it was still pouring with rain and overcast.  We stopped at a town called Newport, where "Free Willy" is kept.  We first parked at McDonalds but we were sloping - then nearer McDonalds but the position was too windy, so we tried yet another parking space but it still felt a little exposed so we went across the road to a restaurant/bar and used them as a windbreak.  We also went in and had a drink which relieved the monotony of sitting in the van.

Saturday 17th January
Carried on up the Oregon coast, the weather was still pretty bad.  We made it to Portland and had a look around. It's a really nice city with loads of fountains and interesting stuff like the "Worlds Smallest Park" and a glockenspiel weather thingy that played "Singing' in the Rain" while we were there.
Their transport is all free downtown so we used it and pottered around for a couple of hours.  Then it was onto the Columbia River Gorge.  This was where we weren't quite sure where to go.  Marcia and Bruce had told us to go on the road on the Washington side but of course all the literature we read in Oregon said go on the Oregon side.  We went for Washington and made our way along the windy road.  We stopped at a town called Bingen and, yet again, McDonalds.  This time we ate there and had a 99c Cajun McChicken Sandwich - very tasty.  We spent as long as possible there until we started getting dirty looks.  Then we went and bedded down.  After an hour or so the manager knocked on the door, after failing to get our notice by revving his engine, and told us to move on.  He said we could park at the Marina, so Claire drove barefoot in pyjamas down alleys and across snow. We found the spot eventually and settled down again.  Then the trains started.  Three went by within that first hour blowing its whistle and making a general racket.  Then it started raining so it was out with the buckets and tea towels.  All in all not a very goo nights sleep.

<these are extracts from my diaries written whilst travelling and working in Canada and the US in '97-'98>