Roadtrip - Day 2
So now we were in the right place, the famous Highway 101 that wends its way down the western coast of the US from above Olympia all the way to Mexico as far as I know. Still raining (typical Washington State) as we headed south, and it turns out that where we stayed in Bay Center was a bit susceptible to, well tsunamis. I think this may well be one of the strangest signs I've ever seen.
Tsunami evacuation route ...
I guess it happens often enough in the area for them to signpost the evacuation route and all, but we found it a little weird to be driving along a pretty major highway, with town after town and plenty of farms, all on land that is obviously far too low if there's ever an earthquake out to sea (with the San Andreas fault line running around that area, not so unlikely).
We drove south and eventually hit the Columbia River which is just massive, and was one of the major trading routes for the early explorers and settlers way back when. Originally Dave Thompson claimed all the land north of the Columbia for Canada as he was the first white guy to explore its course from its beginnings in the Kootenais in BC all the way down to the coast at Astoria. Obviously Canada doesn't own most of Washington State so someone dickered well for the Yanks, and now the Columbia separates Washington State from Oregon at the town of Astoria, named after John Jacob Astor who first set up the trading fort there in the 1800s.
Bridge across the Columbia River to Astoria, Oregon...
South some more, and we ended up in Tillamook which is home to the Tillamook Dairy Co-Op who produce some of the nicest aged cheddar I've ever had and some really really yummy ice cream as well(which we had to sample). In the carpark of the main touristy centre and dairy processing factory we got these photos of some of the more outrageous vehicles we were sharing the highway with.
Obviously this guy is a serious relaxing type! Enormous caravan/5th wheel? Check. Boat tied on top of the roof OK? Check. Got the motorbikes as well? Check.
RV - Recreational Vehicle - and dammit I'm goin' ta' re-cre-ate as much as possible...
And once you get your enormous Winnebago to the campground and set it up(hooking up to the 15A power supplied and setting up the satellite TV) you might need to nip into town for a bite to eat so you may as well tow your full sized Ford Explorer with you...
The gas consumption on the Explorer would have killed us, let alone this combo...
It was really strange at first seeing all these 4WDs tailgating these massive Winnebago RVs until I realised that they were being towed. The funniest license plate on the whole trip was on one of these 4WDs being towed behind a big Bounder Winnebago. "I PUSH".
We were very lucky with our campground selections and managed to find another very lush site in Mapleton. We had decided by this stage that we were sick of the constant rain and so we might go inland a bit and try and get away from it that way. Of course the roads inland all followed the river courses and this campground ended up being right next to a river and was pretty damp anyway, but at least we'd made the attempt. And it's absolutely green and lovely and we were pretty much the only ones there again. Nice.
Col's hiding behind the tree...
Tsunami evacuation route ...
I guess it happens often enough in the area for them to signpost the evacuation route and all, but we found it a little weird to be driving along a pretty major highway, with town after town and plenty of farms, all on land that is obviously far too low if there's ever an earthquake out to sea (with the San Andreas fault line running around that area, not so unlikely).
We drove south and eventually hit the Columbia River which is just massive, and was one of the major trading routes for the early explorers and settlers way back when. Originally Dave Thompson claimed all the land north of the Columbia for Canada as he was the first white guy to explore its course from its beginnings in the Kootenais in BC all the way down to the coast at Astoria. Obviously Canada doesn't own most of Washington State so someone dickered well for the Yanks, and now the Columbia separates Washington State from Oregon at the town of Astoria, named after John Jacob Astor who first set up the trading fort there in the 1800s.
Bridge across the Columbia River to Astoria, Oregon...
South some more, and we ended up in Tillamook which is home to the Tillamook Dairy Co-Op who produce some of the nicest aged cheddar I've ever had and some really really yummy ice cream as well(which we had to sample). In the carpark of the main touristy centre and dairy processing factory we got these photos of some of the more outrageous vehicles we were sharing the highway with.
Obviously this guy is a serious relaxing type! Enormous caravan/5th wheel? Check. Boat tied on top of the roof OK? Check. Got the motorbikes as well? Check.
RV - Recreational Vehicle - and dammit I'm goin' ta' re-cre-ate as much as possible...
And once you get your enormous Winnebago to the campground and set it up(hooking up to the 15A power supplied and setting up the satellite TV) you might need to nip into town for a bite to eat so you may as well tow your full sized Ford Explorer with you...
The gas consumption on the Explorer would have killed us, let alone this combo...
It was really strange at first seeing all these 4WDs tailgating these massive Winnebago RVs until I realised that they were being towed. The funniest license plate on the whole trip was on one of these 4WDs being towed behind a big Bounder Winnebago. "I PUSH".
We were very lucky with our campground selections and managed to find another very lush site in Mapleton. We had decided by this stage that we were sick of the constant rain and so we might go inland a bit and try and get away from it that way. Of course the roads inland all followed the river courses and this campground ended up being right next to a river and was pretty damp anyway, but at least we'd made the attempt. And it's absolutely green and lovely and we were pretty much the only ones there again. Nice.
Col's hiding behind the tree...
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